Game of Flames
by Phantom Drache
Summary: Life was generally troublesome for Tsuna. Blue boxes were only mildly more so. Watch as he uses his will power, slightly reality breaking powers, and a dash of the placebo effect to become the best Mafia Boss of all time! Wait, what? WARNING: Very number and information heavy.
1. Chapter 1

**Game of Flames**

 **Chapter 1: Tutorial**

 **AN:** Salutations! Now, I wasn't originally planning on ever doing a Gamer fic, but I was looking about for inspiration, and I realised that the majority of Gamer fics were either HP, RWBY, or Naruto. That combined with me sitting for a few hours bouncing around ideas on how to go about messing with KHR, and boom. Now, i've read a good couple dozen Gamer fics in my time here on FF, and one of the issues I see most prevalent in the trope is that the MC's numbers tend to shoot way up really quickly, either due to level grinding or time skips. I will, of course, do my best to keep everything as logical and plausible as possible. Now, everything else that's important will be put in the longer description on my profile. I'm really trying to shorten these obnoxious AN's. Well, let's stop talking and get this show on the road!

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Sawada Tsunayoshi was many things. 15, and about to start his first day of high school. A little on the short side. Terrible at anything physical. A bit slow in the head, some might say. One thing Tsuna generally wasn't though, was schizophrenic. Well, at least he didn't think he was. He wasn't too sure of the definition for that word, and what he was seeing in front of him made it hard to argue it anyways.

 _Welcome Sawada Tsunayoshi, to The Game._

 _Press the arrow to start the tutorial._

A soft ding sound had woken him up this morning. Looking to the right at the alarm clock on his desk, he can see it's 6 in the morning. Even on his best days, this is still two hours early for him. Grumbling, and about to go back to sleep, he turned his head only to see this...thing.

He had tried rubbing his eyes, pinching his arm, and even holding his breath until he nearly turned as blue as the impossibility in front of him. Nothing changed the fact that it was hovering in front of his face, about half a meter away.

Sitting up hadn't helped, though the...screen? Whatever it was, it had moved at the same rate his head had, and had even tilted so that it remained in the exact same position relative to his head as it was when he was lying down.

Honestly, the most confusing part of all this is the fact that he's not panicking. Usually in moments like this the first thing he'd do would be to release a shriek audible only to canines. Now however, he just feels...calm.

'How odd. I wonder if this blue box has an answer for why i'm not scared right now?' Deciding to take the chance and investigate further, Tsuna reaches to tap the small symbol on the bottom of the screen just beneath the text, the 'arrow' resembling as if someone typed out two equal signs and then a 'greater than' symbol, but he pauses when he turns to look at his clock once more.

6 o'clock. It's probably been two or three minutes since he woke up, but the clock hasn't changed. 'It's probably busted,' Tsuna thinks. Figuring that the tutorial or whatever is going on here can wait another moment, Tsuna gets up out of bed and takes the two steps to pick up his alarm clock.

Glancing up at his window to verify that it really is 6 in the morning, Tsuna almost drops his clock in shock. Right in front of his window is a bird. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue, seeing as how most animals actually rather like Tsuna. With the exception of Chihuahua's of course, but those are creatures of pure evil, and as such not subject to the normal rules. At least, that's what Tsuna firmly believes.

The reason Tsuna is shocked to see the bird this morning is because of what it's doing. Or rather, what it isn't doing. About two meters away from his window, it would appear as if someone took a picture of a bird mid flight and stuck it on Tsuna's window. At least, that's what he would believe if he hadn't opened said window just to double check for just that.

'My clock still reads 6 even after five minutes, and there's a bird frozen in the air outside my window. It's official. Either this is the most intense dream ever, or time has stopped. This...could be a problem.'

Of course, this entire introspection has only given rise to an increased need to figure out why exactly he isn't scared out of his pants at this point. Turning back towards his room, and staring at the blue window, Tsuna heaves a great sigh.

'Might as well get this over with. Please don't hurt me.' With a surprisingly stable hand, Tsuna reaches out and gently taps on the arrow at the bottom of the blue box. Another soft ding rings out as the box disappears only to be replaced by another not a second later. This box is much larger, holding several lines of text.

 _As i'm sure you might have noticed, things have changed._

 _As of right now, you are caught in what I like to refer to as an_

 _Irregular Temporal Distortion Field._

 _I.D., or Irregular Distortion, for short._

 _Do not worry, the I.D. affects everything except you and these messages._

 _When you finish this tutorial, the I.D. will fall and time will resume as normal._

 _For now, allow me to introduce myself._

 _I am Phantomdrache Von Anderung._

 _You may refer to me as Phantom Drache, or simply Drache._

 _To continue the Tutorial, please press the arrow._

"Phantom-what now? Are you telling me that somebody did this?" The blue box offers no further answers. "Well, i've already started. Might as well see this through to the end."

*Ding*

 _Now, i'm sure you've a great many questions._

 _Who are you?_

 _What did you do?_

 _Why are you doing this?_

 _Do you like jazz?_

 _Of course, all of your questions will be answered._

 _And for the record, yes. I do enjoy jazz._

 _As for who I am, well. Let's just say that i'm a traveler._

 _I travel to certain places, and I observe the future of that place._

 _Depending on whether or not anybody interests me, I might..._

 _Offer a helping hand, shall we say._

 _The why is also simple. I get bored really easily._

 _To learn exactly what's going to happen now, please press the arrow._

*Ding*

 _As stated in the first message, you are now part of 'The Game'._

 _What is 'The Game'?_

 _Well, to put it simply, I decided that you would provide suitable entertainment, and decided to turn your entire life into a game, complete with levels and experience!_

 _Aren't you quite the lucky fellow?_

 _Now, before you ask, no this is not some mistake._

 _And no, i'm not doing this as some elaborate prank to make your life even worse than it already is._

 _I wanted to help you, believe it or not._

 _Now, as for what 'making your life a game' actually means, if you'll press the arrow we can finally get to the meat of the matter._

*Ding*

 _Now, as a young, lonely teen, i'm sure you've spent plenty of time playing video games during the free time you have since nobody wants to hang out with you._

"Hey!"

 _As such, i'm not going to patronize you with all the tiny details._

 _This particular version of The Game comes with a new and improved User Interface! This allows you to use all facets of The Game using mental commands, rather than having to say everything out loud._

 _In addition, these boxes are completely invisible to anyone besides you. Even in the event that someone somehow possesses your body, they still won't be able to see the boxes._

 _To continue the tutorial, please think the phrase 'Status'._

"Hmm. This box doesn't have an arrow. I guess if I want to get this over with, I have to do as it asks. Didn't need to make fun of me though, and that bit about possession worries me." Running his hand through his vibrant and bouncy brown hair, Tsuna decides that at this point everything is too insane for a dream. And if he does wake up from this, then he's just going to repress the memory and pretend it never happened.

'Status.' another soft ding rings out, and this time two blue boxes pop up. Ignoring the one with more words on it for now, Tsuna reads to one with a bunch of numbers on it.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi, The Gamer_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 50/50_

 _?: ?/?_

 _Level: 0_

 _Exp: 0/10_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 5_

 _Dex: 5_

 _Con: 5_

 _Int: 5_

 _Wis: 5_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills +25% ?, +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with ? ? allied with ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% ? +50% Reputation gains with ?, +75% Reputation gains with ?, +? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed_

"This is...incredibly disappointing. If I remember right, don't most game characters start with 10's across the board? And what's with all the question marks and negatives?" Sadly, no answers were coming from the box in front of him, so Tsuna turned to the other box.

 _This is your Status Screen also known as the Character Screen._

 _Str is Strength. Kind of obvious what that does._

 _Dex is Dexterity. This determines how fast you are, as well as your ability to do tasks requiring a more deft hand._

 _Con stands for Constitution. This is, in layman's terms, how healthy you are. Each point in Con increases maximum Health Points, or HP, by 10 and each level up gives you 25 HP. You regenerate 1% of your Hp every 5 seconds. If you reach 0 HP, you are knocked unconscious. Further damage can result in Death._

 _Int is Intelligence. This is how easily you retain knowledge. Maximum ? ?, or ?, is deduced from 10 times your Int, plus 25 per Level. You regenerate 1% of your ? every 5 seconds. If you reach 0 ?, you suffer from ? ?, and lose 5 Hp per second._

 _Wis stands for Wisdom. This is how well you are able to utilize the information you have._

 _Cha is Charisma. This determines how people view you and how they react to the things you do or say. Generally speaking, the higher your Cha, the faster you gain Reputation with a person/group._

 _You gain 5 'Free Points' that you can allocate to any stat every level, and you can even raise your stats manually by doing something that directly correlates to that stat. Lift weights to increase Str, run laps to raise Dex, read a book for once in your life to raise Int, and so on._

 _Now, normally people start off with 10 points in each stat, however due to your titles of 'No-Good' and '? ?', you are weaker than everyone else your age, and perhaps a few people younger than you._

"Sad, but true. Let's see what else this has to say. Hopefully i'll finally learn why i'm so calm." The fact that he wasn't bothered by any of this was actually starting to bother Tsuna. At least until his concern gets swept away by the unending calm he'd been feeling since he woke up.

*Ding*

"Is there a way to turn that annoying sound off?" Honestly, if he was able to, he'd be quite aggravated by the noise by now.

 _Now, as i'm sure you've noticed by now, certain portions of your Status are currently replaced with question marks. This means that you do not have sufficient knowledge on the matter, and need to learn more about yourself and/or the world around you in order to unlock this knowledge._

 _As for why you've maintained your calm this far, which goes against your generally frightened personality, that is due to a certain temporary feature i've added to your status._

 _The particular temporary feature you have is 'The Gamer'. You know, the little bit next to your name?_

 _Besides the title next to your name, 'The Gamer' gives you two extra abilities that will last until you finish the tutorial. They are 'Irregular Distortion', and 'Gamer's Mind'._

 _I already explained what the I.D. does, so let's focus on 'Gamer's Mind._

 _Gamer's Mind allows a person to observe the world around them in a calm and orderly fashion, automatically getting rid of any mental status effects such as fear._

 _Due to the fact that prolonged exposure to Gamers Mind causes a person to slowly lose their personality, I have removed Gamer's Mind as a permanent feature._

"Well, that explains that. I'm happy that this isn't permanent, though. It's nice to no longer be afraid of my own shadow, but everything feels so ... distant. Like I don't really care about anything that's happening. Well, I guess i'll just have to finish this up if I want to go back to normal." Another arrow, another annoying ding.

 _I'm sure you're getting tired of reading wall upon wall of text, so let's wrap this up, shall we?_

 _Other features of The Game include Skills, Quests, Reputation, and your Inventory._

 _All can be opened using either a vocal or mental command, same as your Status screen. Of course, seeing as you've yet to receive any quests, or obtain any items, those two screens are currently empty. You currently possess one skill, though it is blocked out because you lack the knowledge necessary to see it._

 _Skills are divided between Combat-Skills and Non-Combat-Skills. This is of course, pretty self explanatory. Punching things is a combat skill, cooking would be non-combat. That is not to say that one can not use a Non-Combat skill in a fight, or that Combat skills are only useful in a fight, but generally they are just more effective in a specific scenario. Not exactly gonna punch a souffle into submission, are you? Note that Skill Experience does not transfer over to Level Experience._

 _Skill Success Rate, or whether or not you actually do what you're trying to do, is dependant on a metaphorical 'dice' that ranges from 1 to 100. A 51 or higher is considered a success, with a 49 or lower being a failure. The further you are on either side of this barrier, the better you succeed, or the harder you fail. If a 1 or 100 is rolled, you either Critically Fail or Critically Succeed respectively. These are interesting, so be on the lookout. Skill levels affect you success rate with a direct increase of 1% per skill level. This means a level 10 skill gives a 10% boost, while a level 25 skill gives a 25% boost. Now, just because this means you can get a +100% to your checks doesn't mean you can't fail. If you roll a Critical Fail, you Critically Fail no matter what._

 _Once you max out a Skill, you get the opportunity to 'Evolve' your Skill. this will decrease it's level back to 1/100, but will actually increase it's effects. For example, if you max out your Cooking skill, you can Evolve it into 'Gourmet Cooking'. At this point, you will still have a 100% chance of successfully cooking a meal, but you'll begin to get a bonus to the quality of your food. Even higher levels will unlock special attributes and Sub-Skills._

 _Sub-Skills are exactly what they sound like. It's something kinda like a Skill, but it's not important enough to be its own skill, so it get put in as part of a different Skill. For example, 'Reloading' is fairly important if you ever find yourself holding a gun, but it's not as important as the overall 'Firearms Mastery' Skill, so it gets a spot as a Sub-Skill within 'Firearms Mastery'._

 _Quests are missions or objectives the The Game has decided to reward you for completing. These can range from simple fetch quests, to repeat quests such as 'get to school on time', all the way up to 'Kill a God'. Of course, the easier the Quest, the lower the rewards, and vice versa._

 _Reputation is simply how people or groups view you in a general way. The higher your Reputation with someone, the better your relationship is. Reputation exists in 5 Stages: Hated, Disliked, Neutral, Liked, and Loved. To go from Neutral to either Liked or Disliked is fairly simple. To go from Liked to Loved, or Disliked to Hated takes a bit more effort. Each Stage has 1000 'points' maximum. If you reach 1000 Liked 'points' you rank up to Loved, and the points reset to 10. If you reach 0 points in a stage, you rank down to the next lowest stage with 990 points. Gaining or losing points becomes more difficult the higher your number goes, though if you lose several points in rapid succession, you risk losing an entire stage even if you started off at a high number. All Reputation starts at Neutral: 500/1000, unless you do something significant enough to affect the minds of people who don't even know you._

 _Inventory is exactly what you think it is. Of course, giving someone an infinitely deep hammer space would break all semblance of balance and ruin my fun, so you are only given 10 'slots' for inventory, though identical items can 'stack' up to 100. Money does not take up a slot, nor does anything you actually wear._

 _Anyways, that's about all I have to say to you. To completely finish the tutorial and escape the I.D i've set up, finish the quest 'Finish Tutorial'. The reward will be a simple 10 Exp to raise you to level 1, and the ability to resume your life in a non-frozen manner. Oh, and I suggest you finish the quest in your room, so nobody questions why you suddenly came into existence in a spot you weren't at a second ago._

 _To get rid of this box and pull up the Quest: 'Finish Tutorial', press the arrow._

 _Oh, and welcome to high school, Tsuna. I hope you enjoy yourself._

 _P.S. No, there is no Settings page for The Game._

This is a lot to take in. Just 24 hours ago, he had been a nobody. Just living day to day trying not to stand out too much and risk his peers heckling him for his complete lack of talent either in the classroom or on the field.

Now however? Apparently some random God or God-like being had decided that they liked him, and now his life was a game. This is insane. the only reason he's not dismissing all of this as some hallucination or dream anymore is the fact that reading all that took half an hour, and not only has his clock not moved, but the bird hadn't either, and he'd not once felt like he was going to wake up.

Tsuna takes a moment to just sit on his bed and collect his thoughts. And isn't that an oddity? Before today, every time he tried to think too hard on anything, he'd gotten a splitting headache, as if his brain was fighting itself. After a few months of that, he'd learned to simply stop thinking, and that was years ago. It was part of why he had so much trouble in class. He read the material, listened to the lectures, but every time he tried to remember what he'd learned, his head would hurt and nothing would make sense anymore. Perhaps one of the things full of questions marks is the reason? Or maybe it's just the fact that he's apparently literally half as smart as everyone else.

Well, sitting around isn't going to do anything, so might as well do the Quest. Reaching up a hand lazily at the box that followed him around, Tsuna heard another of those dings as he pushes the arrow.

 _Quest Alert!_

 _"Finish Tutorial"_

 _Description: Do as the title says, and finally get out of the tutorial!_

 _Completion Conditions:_

 _-Raise two stats up at least one point_

 _-Get at least one skill_

 _-Check out the pages the tutorial didn't cover_

 _a.) Skill list_

 _b.) Quest List_

 _c.) Reputation Page_

 _d.) Inventory_

 _Failure conditions:_

 _...Fuck if I know how you'd fail this. You can sit in your bed for what would feel like a week and probably still manage to complete this, even on accident. So just don't deliberately try to fail I suppose._

 _Rewards:_

 _+10 Exp_

 _+2 surprise items_

 _(Quest can not be denied)_

"Surprise items? The other blue box didn't say anything about those. well, I suppose it wouldn't be much of a surprise if it did. Now, what stats should I work on? Well, I saw a lot of things giving me bonuses and penalties to my stats, so I should probably figure out what those add up to before I pick something. That way I can pick the easiest stat to increase." and with that Tsuna opens his Status once more.

What follows is 10 minutes of scribbling down numbers and double checking with his Status screen to make sure he got everything right. the results are...less than pleasing.

"Well, according to the math: Strength, Dex, Con, and all my skills are at -50 percent experience gain, with Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Reputation at -75 percent. That...explains a lot honestly. It's not just that i'm half as smart as everyone else, I also learn at a quarter the speed everyone else does, assuming they don't have any bonuses to their Intelligence or Wisdom gains."

Tsuna spins in the swivel chair he begged his mom to get him a few years ago as he thinks about what all that means. Clearly, whatever title he had that was all in question marks, plus his 'No-good' title were basically removing any chance he had to get better academically. Of course, given all his physical abilities are at half-growth speed, it's not like this 'game' is telling him to focus on becoming some sort of heavy hitter.

"Hmm. It said that the question mark title could be removed. I wonder how I go about that, and if I can do the same for my 'No-Good' title?" As he says this out-loud, another ding rings out. At this point, Tsuna's gathered that the noise is literally entirely in his head, as he's yet to see any device in his room that could make such a sound.

 _Quest Alert!_

 _'Remove your No-Good Title!'_

 _Description: Being No-Good is no good! To 'get good', you better get rid of that title._

 _Completion Conditions:_

 _-Raise all your Stats to a minimum of 10_

 _Failure Conditions:_

 _Unless you plan on doing literally nothing with your life from this point on, it's inevitable that you'll complete this quest._

 _Rewards:_

 _-The Title 'No-Good' and all its effects will be removed_

 _+50 Exp_

 _+25 Reputation with Sawada Nana_

 _+50 Reputation with group: Classmates_

 _+75 reputation with group: Namimori High_

 _(You can not decline this Quest, though I'm not sure why you'd want to.)_

 _Quest Alert!_

 _'Remove Title: ? ?'_

 _Description: As of right now, you have no idea what this Title even is, let alone why you have it, you only know that you don't like it. Try and figure out what it is and how to get rid of it!_

 _Completion Conditions:_

 _\- Meet ?_

 _-Gain Skill ? ? ?_

 _\- Learn about ? ? ?_

 _-Max out the Skill ? ? ? so it evolves into ? ? ? ?_

 _Failure Conditions:_

 _Die before you finish this Quest. Note: Dying will result in a 'Game Over'. There are no re-do's. There are no Save Points. When you die, that's that. The End. So yeah, try to avoid that._

 _Rewards:_

 _-Your ? are no longer ?_

 _-Title '? ?' and all its effects are removed_

 _+100,000 Exp_

 _(You can not decline this Quest. Period.)_

Oh.

"That's...not good. I mean, I wasn't expecting anything like Save Points, but I also wasn't expecting the game to just out and say that I have a chance to die. I mean, logically speaking, I know that everyone dies at some point, but... I didn't expect this."

Well, normally he would have to repress the all encompassing fear for his life, but thankfully that 'Gamers Mind' thing still works. Right now Tsuna just feels...resigned. He doesn't want to die, and he certainly won't just keel over, but something about all this feels...inevitable.

"Well, i'll panic about that when I can feel my emotions again. For now, I might as well focus. So, I won't be able to get rid of either of these Titles right now, though i'm glad that my 'No-Good' title is given to go away eventually. Of course, sooner is better than later, so let's get those stats up." Tsuna goes back to spinning in his chair, having stopped to read the quests.

"Now, my physical stats are easier to raise, so for now I guess i'll focus on raising those. Once I get them up, get a skill, and check out those other pages, I'll just put my points into my intelligence and wisdom, seeing as it'll be harder to raise them normally." Tsuna stops spinning again when that familiar ding sounds again. Repressing a sigh, Tsuna looks at the blue box that appeared.

*Ding!*

 _For making a logical decision using the information at hand, your Wisdom has increased by 1!_

Blink. Blink.

"Well...that was easier than I thought it would be." Of course, thinking about it, it does make sense. He had just done nearly 20 minutes worth of researching and rationalizing things. Of course, if he didn't have a minus 75% to his mental stats, he'd probably have gotten the notification after doing the math.

That's actually almost depressing, thinking about it. He's at such a low level of mental ability that doing some basic addition and subtraction probably would have raised his Intelligence. Oh well. Best not to look gift horses in the mouth, he believes that phrase went.

"Well, I guess i'll just raise my physical stats now. With only a -50%, it'll be faster and easier, plus I can look at those other pages when i'm resting." with that, Tsuna reluctantly gets out of his favorite chair, and moves into roughly the center of his room.

He has to shift his table out of the way, along with some loose bits and ends, but he makes enough space to do what he plans. Dropping to his knees, Tsuna gets into the position to start doing push-ups.

And 1...2...3. This is going to be a while.

A full 20 minutes and 10 pushups later, Tsuna finally hears that ding again. With his limbs now feeling like lead, it's almost enough for him to actually appreciate the sound. Almost.

 _Due to exerting your muscles beyond your normal level of activity, you have increased your Strength by 1! Try and pick up the pace next time though. That was embarrassing._

"Screw...you." Thankfully Tsuna's faith in his masculinity was already so low that the jab barely fazed him. Going from push-up position to laying on his back, Tsuna takes the time spent recovering his admittedly abysmal stamina to check out those pages he hasn't gotten around to.

He had entertained the thought of doing so while 'working out', but the 'exercise' had taken so much of his focus not to call it quits halfway through that he doubted he had the fortitude to do both things at the same time.

'Skills.' The mental command brings up one more of those accursed blue boxes, complete with the 'ding'.

 _Skill List_

 _Combat Skills:_

 _? ? Lvl MAX_

 _Non-Combat Skills:_

That's the entire screen. He knows the voice in the boxes, Drake or something like that, had said he didn't have any skills, but hearing it and seeing it are two different things, if the quick stab of disappointment he feels before it gets washed away says anything. Although he's still curious what the blocked skill is. It says it's level is maxed out, but that doesn't tell Tsuna whether that means it's some sort of reality-breaking OP skill, or some absolutely worthless skill that maxed itself out because of how easy it is to level. Like if Tsuna had a 'Japanese language' skill, it'd probably be close to maxed out.

The Quest Page brings up the only three Quests he currently has. The voice had said that Quests could be literally anything, so Tsuna supposes that that means that the Quest Page will Eventually fill out more.

Inventory is a bit more interesting. As the boxes had said, there are only 10 'slots', which take the form of ten blue boxes linked together in a circle that hovers at Tsuna's waist, forming a ring about 2 meters in diameter with the right and left edges of each box touching another box. Originally, Tsuna only saw 5 boxes, and thought he was about to get shafted half his Inventory, only to stand up and see the other 5 boxes appear behind him.

Experimenting with a spare water bottle, Tsuna figures that each box is actually a unique entity, in that he can put an item in a specific box, and spin the circle around to move the item according to it's new location. Well, assuming that these boxes are invisible like they said towards the beginning, he could make one heck of a stage magician. Now he pulls up his Reputation page, which is actually a lot more in depth than he expected.

 _Reputation_

 _Individuals:_

 _Nana Sawada (Mother): Loved: 750/1000_

 _Iemitsu Sawada (Father): Loved: 500/1000_

 _Timoteo Vongola (?): Liked: 500/1000_

 _Kyoko Sasagawa (Classmate): Liked: 150/1000_

 _Hana Kurokawa (Classmate): Neutral: 750/1000_

 _Kensuke Mochida (Fellow Student): Disliked: 800/1000_

 _Hibari Kyoya (Fellow Student): Neutral: 500/1000_

 _Nezu Dohachiro (Teacher): Hated: 250/1000_

 _Groups:_

 _?: Neutral: 900/1000_

 _?: Neutral: 500/1000_

 _Fellow Students: Neutral : 450/1000_

 _Teachers: Disliked: 850/1000_

 _Classmates: Disliked: 700/1000_

Well now. This was interesting. Timoteo...that was the old man who visited a couple times a few years ago, wasn't he? Assuming the words in parentheses are the groups that an individual is part of, so that means that the old man is part of one of the two unknown groups on here. And why does one of Tsuna's teachers hate him so much when he hasn't even gone to school yet?

Ah. Nezu was the science teacher that's constantly harping on about tests, isn't he? Tsuna had heard on the grapevine that he hates students who don't do well on his many, many tests, so it makes sense that Tsuna, who was one of the lowest scoring students in middle school would be on his shit-list.

The same can be said of the other teachers, as well as the students in general. Even if they don't know Tsuna personally, they've more than likely heard of his reputation.

Well, at least Kyoko likes him. A fact he was sure to do a dance of joy for the moment the Gamers Mind stopped suppressing his emotions. And Hana, Kyoko's friend, seemed have a slightly better opinion of him than she let on.

Celebrations later. For now, Tsuna still has one more objective left before he can finally be done with this tutorial. Now then, creating a Skill. How in the world is he supposed to do that? Tsuna moves back to his swivel chair to think this over.

"A Skill. Defined as something that you're good at. A thing you do. What's something I can do? Not a whole lot in that column, unfortunately. Hmm. It mentioned punching a lot, and this 'Game' seems under the impression that i'm gonna end up in a fight no matter what I do, given an entire section of my skill list is set as 'combat skills'. Well, I guess the easiest way to go about this would be to get a punching skill."

Tsuna ceases his swivelling once more and stands. Moving back to the center of his room, Tsuna takes what he imagines is a proper stance for practicing his punches. His legs are set almost a meter apart, his knees bent at a 45 degree angle, and his arms raised so his shoulders bunch up, elbows facing down, and fists almost resting on his cheeks.

"I feel incredibly stupid. Thank goodness nobody was around to see that." With this matter of fact statement, Tsuna abandons his previous attempt, and simply stands almost straight up, arms hanging in a more relaxed pose, fists resting at chest height about thirty centimeters away from his body.

"Well, nothing to do but try this out. Best case scenario, I get a Skill and I can finally be done with this. Worst case scenario, I simply try something else." and with that, Tsuna begins his attempts at punching the air into submission. Imagining that he's punching the person who wrote the blue boxes, he alternates which arm he uses with every punch. About 5 minutes in, Tsuna's already breathing a little hard, but he's done about 25 punches with each hand. Finally, the tell-tale sound rings once more.

*Ding!*

 _With repeated practice, you have created your first Skill!_

 _New Skill: Punch_

 _Level 1/100 : 0/10 Exp_

 _Description: It's a punch, what do you expect? Level it up some more if you want to do anything crazy like breaking logs with your bare hands. You gain more experience if you actually hit something besides the air, by the way. Active Skill, obviously._

 _+1 Strength every 5 levels_

 _Your fists now do a base damage of (Str plus Punch Level)._

"I see whoever writes these is still a prick." The lack of fear regarding cosmic intervention is pretty much the only reason that Tsuna would dare insult the mysterious being who apparently had the power to do whatever it wished with his life. In his current mindset, Tsuna is sure that whoever gave him this 'gift' wouldn't be quick to take it away just because of a few words. He'd more than likely panic about his life choices after he could manage to feel anything again.

*Ding!*

Something that might happen sooner than later.

 _Quest Alert!_

 _You have completed the Quest: 'Finish Tutorial'!_

 _Rewards:_

 _+10 Exp_

 _+2 Surprise Items_

 _*Ding*_

 _Level Up!_

 _You are now Level 1!_

 _You have 0 of 25 experience until the next Level._

*Ding*

 _For completing the tutorial, as well as a gift for entering High School, Phantomdrache has decided to grant you two gifts. They will appear in your inventory after closing this window._

 _Welcome, Sawada Tsunayoshi, to The Game._

Well, at least he's finally done with all that. Oh. Oh god. He can feel again. And now he's hyperventilating. Great. It takes Tsuna thirty minutes and no less than three kleenex tissues to collect himself.

Standing up, he double checks that time has resumed itself. The relief he feels when he sees the clock read 6:32 AM is almost palpable, not that he knows the meaning of the word. The clouds are even lazily drifting across the sky again, and the bird is nowhere to be seen.

"I-I can't believe it. T-This is crazy!" After taking another minute to work up the courage, Tsuna decides it's best to check out the items he just earned before going through the process of 'leveling up', as it were.

With a thought that's more a mental whisper than a command, Tsuna jumps a little when the ring of blue boxes fades into existence around him and the swivel chair he was now holding onto for dear life.

There, next to the water bottle he had forgotten to remove, is a necklace and a piece of paper, taking up a block each. Deciding to start with the paper in case it's important, Tsuna hesitantly reaches his hand towards the blue square. when his hand is nearly touching it, the box glows faintly and the paper seems to glide out of the box into his hand. With a loud gulp, Tsuna unfolds it slowly.

 _Hello Tsuna._

 _This is Phantomdrache again. I know that now that Gamer's Mind has been removed, you must be very scared. Don't worry. When I arrived at this reality, I looked into your future. Had I not intervened, you would still have lead a life full of adventure and things you wouldn't have dreamed about. I didn't change anything about the present or the past, I just made it so you'd end up being stronger. So consider what i'm doing as me simply...accelerating things a little. Now, I didn't give you this note just to calm you down. I also wanted to give you a little helpful advice. For an essential Non-Combat Skill, I suggest you take the time to Observe your surroundings a bit more than usual. Well, that's all I have time for. You won't hear directly from me for a long time, so don't worry about me constantly peeking over your shoulders. Have fun, and enjoy your life._

 _See you later Tsuna,_

 _Phantomdrache_

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

 **AN:** Well, hope you guys enjoyed that. I decided to take the whole concept of ROB (Random Omnipotent Being) and give it a Phantom Drache twist. As you can see, this ain't your usual Gamer fic. For starters most stories keep Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body. I never even mentioned Gamer's body, and the only reason Gamer's Mind was a temporary part of this story was because given Tsuna's character at this point in time, he'd be more likely to scream his head off and run around like a chicken for an hour before actually getting anything meaningful to the plot done. And most of stories also involve creating the most OP main character possible. Not for this writer, no sir. In fact I actually had to rewrite things a couple times in order to avoid accidentally making it so one of Tsuna's gains hit negative 100 percent. In this story, Tsuna's gonna have to work his ass off to even hit the level of 'average'. Becoming Vongola Decimo is gonna make Tsuna fear for his life several times before he even gets to the half-way mark. Of course, as we advance further, I do want Tsuna to end up being easily top 10 strongest people in the world, second really only to the Arcobaleno and Checker-Face. But that's a long way into the future. I want his progression to be believable. Now, I'm gonna keep a side-file on my computer to keep track of Tsuna's Stats and Skills. I'm thinking of posting at least his Stats at the end of every chapter, but i'm not sure if that'll become too tedious, especially with the fact that there will be times that his Stats get repeated a couple time in the story itself. Let me know what you think in a review. For now, I guess i'll see you guys next time in Game of Flames Chapter 2: Day 1.

Signed,

Phantom Drache.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Day 1, Part 1**

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Well. At least it's not a declaration of his impending doom. Honestly, on a scale of 1 to 10, Tsuna would rate that note as a solid 4 on the Fear-o-Meter, trademark pending. Though he wishes it could have been clearer on certain things.

This...Drache character said that he hadn't messed with the past, and that the events of the future were unavoidable. What sort of events is he talking about?

And what on earth was he talking about with the bit about 'Observing your surroundings'? He said it was something about a Non-Combat Skill. Non-Combat is good. Non-combat is safe. Well, Tsuna still has... an hour before his mom is likely to come upstairs to wake him up. Might as well try it out before he looks at that weird necklace thing in his inventory.

As Tsuna thinks this, the paper he's still holding suddenly lights up. With a tiny squeak that most certainly wasn't particularly manly, Tsuna drops the paper like it caught fire. Considering the fact that the glow intensifies before the paper starts to disappear in a burst of white sparkles, Tsuna almost wishes it had been fire. Fire would be easier to explain to himself.

Taking several deep breaths to calm himself, Tsuna decides that the best course of action is to pretend everything is fine, and continue what he was doing before notes started to disappear in magical displays that defy all logic. I mean, blue boxes are apparently a thing so why not magic?

So...observing his surroundings. How does one go about that? Deciding to skip all the thinking and logic that seemed to come to him so naturally while he was under the effects of Gamer's Mind, Tsuna decides the best way to figure this out is to take out his water bottle from his inventory, and stare at it.

And stare...it takes everything he's got to not let his mind wander after the first ten seconds. He takes in all the details of the bottle.

The clear plastic, slightly crinkled from when he picked it up. The white cap, twisted on tight to avoid any spilling. The blue cover telling Tsuna all the boring details like where the water came from, who bottled it, all the minerals in it, and a ton of other things that don't really matter.

Finally, after a solid minute and a half of getting to know this solitary bottle of water better than most of his possessions, Tsuna sags in relief at the sound he had begun to be used too. Or at least he did after jumping in fright a little. Baby steps.

*Ding!*

 _Skill Created!_

 _By familiarizing yourself with the details of what surrounds you, you have created the skill 'Observe'!_

 _Observe Level 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: Allows you to gain more information about a person or object. At level one, you can see names and general descriptions. Rolls for a success at Observe will subtract the level of the person you are trying to Observe from your probability. Inanimate objects have no level. Active Skill._

Oh. So that's what he meant. That's actually incredibly useful. Now Tsuna won't be able to forget anybody's name! Yep. That's the first thing he thinks of. Priorities people, get them straight. Tsuna decides to test out his new Skill by looking at the bottle of water again.

'Observe'

 _Bottle of Water_

 _Description: It's water. In a bottle. Not sure what else you want._

 _+5 Hp_

 _+5 ?_

So, by drinking this, he could actually regain health? That's crazy! And if just a regular bottle of water increases his health by 5, then what would an actual meal do? Well, at least now he can figure out what's up with the necklace rather than avoiding it.

Putting the bottle back in his inventory - better safe than sorry - Tsuna carefully pulls out the necklace before quickly putting it on his table and backing up. Taking a casual look at it before hitting it with an Observe gives him very little to work with.

It has a silver chain, complete with clasp, that carries a disk that serves as a sort of pendent. The disk itself appears to be solid gold, about two centimeters thick and 5 centimeters in diameter, with a black etching of what appears to be a lion facing he front, mouth open in a silent roar. The oddest part is that it seems to have some sort of line crossing over it's right eye, as if in reference to a scar. It makes absolutely no sense to Tsuna.

'Well, here goes nothing. Observe.'

 _The Pendant of Pride_

 _Level 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: A gift from Phantomdrache to one Sawada Tsunayoshi. Grants the wearer an increased sense of self worth, as well as increased physical power. Gains exactly half the experience you do._

 _+1 Str (Increases by 1 every 5th level.)_

 _*Ding!*_

 _+5 Experience to Observe!_

 _Observe is now at Level 1/100 (5/10 Exp)_

Well now, that's certainly quite the item. It may not be much - as much as you can consider an increase of 15ish% to his strength 'little' - but considering it's only going to get stronger with time, it's pretty obvious that this is a high-quality item.

Of course, it's not as if Tsuna is all that concerned with little details like 'planning ahead', so he focused on the aspect of 'increased sense of self worth'. figuring that the voice in the boxes had yet to steer him wrong - for all of the last two hours he'd been awake - he decides the best thing to do is trust the boxes and put it on.

Immediately, Tsuna felt as if some of that calm and focused mindset he had earlier came back to him. Now, if Tsuna had anything higher than a 5 in Intelligence at this point, he might have realised that that 'increased sense of self-worth' was all just a placebo effect. The necklace didn't actually do anything, but since he believed that it would do something, he felt as if it did. Honestly, he should have seen it coming, considering the only bonus listed was the Strength increase.

Because of his low intelligence and general gullibility at this point in his life, it would be a long time before he realised all of this. Until that point however, he would use this pendant as a life-line and subconsciously increase his own confidence without even realising it.

"Hmm, I also got 5 exp for Observe. I wonder if it'll always be 5, or if it'll get larger as I Observe higher levelled things, or even people. Well, only one way to test this. Use it on everything I own."

 _*Ding!*_

 _For using that brain of yours for once, your Intelligence has increased by 1!_

"Yep. Still can't tell if these boxes are making fun of me or not. i'm just gonna move on to the grinding now."

'Observe.'

 _Wooden Desk_

 _Description: It's a desk! Made of wood! Who could have guessed?! It's pretty sturdy, and it helps you think good when you study, not that you'd know that._

 _+10% Int and Wis gains when seated at desk_

 _*Ding!*_

 _+5 Exp to Observe!_

 _Observe has Leveled up!_

 _Observe is now Level 2/100 (0/25 Exp)_

"Well, looks like it might be a flat rate of 5 a piece, though that could just be objects." Tsuna proceeds to spend the next five minutes Observing everything in his room. The total comes up to 10 pieces of trash, 3 more bottles of water (stacked in the inventory of course), over a dozen sheets of paper, a table, a bed, and one excellent swivel chair.

That comes out to 135 experience points for observe, getting it up to level 4. Of course, given his -50% for all Skills, it really should have been 270 Exp. Oh well. Nothing he can do about it right now.

 _Observe Lvl 4/100 (60/100 Exp)_

 _\- Tells the user the name, general description, and level of the target_

Something to keep in mind is that the experience need to level up a skill seems fairly hectic. To go from 1 to 2 required 10 Experience. 2 to 3 took 25, 3 to 4 took 50, and 4 to 5 apparently takes 100 experience. Another important detail is that Observing something only gives experience once, even if Tsuna uses the Skill after it's leveled up to give more information, such as the fact that his 'spring water' is really tap water put into a fancy bottle.

Well seeing as he's now got about...45 minutes before 8, which is generally when his mom comes upstairs to get him. What to do, what to do? He's completed the tutorial, checked out the 'surprise' items, and even acquired a new skill that he used on everything in his immediate vicinity.

Hmm, perhaps that's what he should do? He'd really rather not think about the possibility of getting into a fight, but if he does it'd be better to know that he can hold his own. After all, he's only level 1, isn't he?

Actually, that's what he should do first. He should check out his status to see how much it's changed. Plus, if he remembers correctly, it said he needed 25 Exp to get to level 2, so maybe it follows the same trend as his Skills?

'Status.' Only one way to find out. Thankfully, the incessant ding noise doesn't show up this time.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 75/75_

 _?: ?/?_

 _Level: 1_

 _Exp: 0/25_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 6 (+1) =7_

 _Dex: 5_

 _Con: 5_

 _Int: 6_

 _Wis: 6_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Free Points: 5_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills +25% ?, +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with ? ? allied with ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% ?, +50% Reputation gains with ?, +75% Reputation gains with ?, +? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed._

Oh yeah, he still has those 5 points to spend. That plus the points he's earned in Str, Int, and Wis means Tsuna is already marginally better than he was just yesterday. Let's see, To get rid of 'No-Good', he needs to be at a 10 in everything, so until something happens to require that Tsuna specialises in something, it'd probably be best if he keeps his Stats as rounded as possible.

Now, if this is like any other game, then earning Stat points manually would probably be easier at lower levels than at higher levels. For instance going from 5 Int to 6 Int took half an hour, but going from 6 to 7 will probably take an hour of focusing on studying or something like that.

Of course, given the fact that his two titles are decreasing the rate at which everything grows, getting rid of them first is probably for the best, so he can focus on getting stat points naturally once he's not handicapped.

Since he needs...22 points all together to get to 10's across the board, and School will probably give him more gains towards Int and Wis rather than Str, Dex, and Con the best way to go about this is focus his free points on his physical stats, while letting his mental stats increase manually.

So, final plan: put a point in Str, and two each in Dex and Con to get all three up to 7. Assuming Int and Wis gains work like the Exp gains, it'll take an hour to get to 7 in each, two to get to 8, four to get to 9, and eight hours to reach 10. That balances out to about 15 hours, or two days of school. Although, that's assuming that they'll both rise at the same time, and they'll rise at a constant rate in school.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have allocated your Free Points!_

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 95/95_

 _?: ?/?_

 _Level: 1_

 _Exp: 0/25_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 7 (+1) = 8_

 _Dex: 7_

 _Con: 7_

 _Int: 6_

 _Wis: 6_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Free Points: 0_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills +25% ?, +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with ? ? allied with ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% ? +50% Reputation gains with ?, +75% Reputation gains with ?, ? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed_

In the end it's best to guess on the high end and say it'll take about a week to get to 10's on the mental side of things. Thankfully, while his Int and Wis sit at -75%, his physical stats only sit at -50%. So if he spends time working on them outside of school, it'll probably only take him 4 or 5 days to get those up to 10's, assuming he doesn't get any level up's between now and then.

It's with this plan in place that Tsuna moves back into the center of his room. He has half an hour to try leveling up his Punching Skill, at which point he'll pause, get dressed for school, and surprise his mom by being up and ready when she comes to get him. She's always asking him to try and get up earlier, and since he's already up, he might as well go that extra step.

Getting back into the more relaxed pose he took up on the second try to get this skill, Tsuna punches the air in front of him with his right fist. And then his left fist. The third in many punches is interrupted by a notification.

 _*Ding!*_

 _+1 Experience to Punch!_

 _Punch is now at 1/10 Exp._

This...this is going to take a while isn't it? With a great sigh, Tsuna dismisses the notification. As he returns to punching the air, Tsuna thinks on that for a moment.

*Ding!*

+1 Experience to Punch!

Punch is now at 2/10 Exp.

There's no little red X in a corner to press, and there are no arrows anymore. However, when Tsuna figures that he's done with a certain box, it just vanishes as swiftly as it arrived.

 _*Ding!*_

 _+1 Experience to Punch!_

This 'Game' seems to work almost entirely on mental commands. Is that so he doesn't look like he's insane when he starts randomly saying things like 'Status' and 'Quests' in a public area?

 _*Ding!*_

 _+1 Experience to Punch!_

Plus it'd look weird if he waved his hands at nothing, closing a bunch of blue boxes only he can see. And boy, doesn't that make him feel like he's already lost it? Seriously, what did he do to deserve this?

 _*Ding!*_

He was a good kid. He did his chores, he ran errands for his mom occasionally. He even tried his best in school, not that that ever amounted to much.

 _*Ding!*_

And yet here he is, punching the air because of a little blue box that supposedly only he could see. All while trying not to go mad because of the fact that he can't seem to find the settings page in order to turn off the sound effects.

 _*Ding!*_

Tsuna just sighs even louder this time. Well, nothing to do about this except lose himself in the rhythm. Punch, Punch, jump a little. Punch, Punch, jump a little.

 _*Ding!*_

 _*Ding!*_

 _*Ding*_

 _..._

Half an hour and no less than 83 separate dings later - and yes, Tsuna did keep count - he finally stops trying to beat the air into submission. His final tally ends up at:

 _Punch LvL 3/100 (49/50 Exp)_

 _+1 Str every 5th level_

 _+Base fist damage = Str plus Punch Level, current Dmg = 7(+1)+3 = 10 (11)_

Not bad, considering he'd almost doubled his base damage from when he first got the skill. At this point, nine punches would take him down to zero health. Tsuna can't tell if that means his health is high, or his punches weak. It's probably his punches being weak.

If he considers 10 to be completely average, than a lot of people probably have higher than 10 in the things they do best. People who study a lot will have higher Int and Wis, and people who are on sports teams would have higher Str, Dex, and Con. And he still doesn't know what the average level of a normal person is.

For all Tsuna knows, he could be weaker than a toddler. And wouldn't that be the story of his life? Tsuna's thoughts continue along this train, imagining various increasingly small threats that could probably take him down easily, as he opens his closet, pulling out his school uniform.

A white short-sleeve button-up with a stylized 'N' on the right side symbolizing him going to Namimori High, dark gray pants, and a red tie. Tsuna never did actually figure out how to tie a tie, so after his mom tied it for him the first time he just loosens it to take it off and tightens it back up whenever he wears it. His red sneakers are downstairs by the door, so currently the only thing on his feet are white socks. Deciding to err on the side of caution, Tsuna tucks his new necklace under his shirt.

Right as Tsuna finishes buttoning his shirt, his mother knocks on his door before slowly opening it. More than likely she was expecting him to still be asleep and would have to wake him up.

"Oh! Up already, Tsu-kun?" Short brown hair a few shades darker than her sons, and with brown eyes just like his, Sawada Nana can typically be seen wearing a smile on her face at all times. Soft spoken and kind to a fault, it's been a topic of conversation for the gossips for years on why she stays faithful to her husband, who's been seen in town all of three times since Tsuna was born. The first was to show his wife and son their new house, the second was when Tsuna was 5, bringing a mysterious older man he called his Uncle, and the third time was three years ago, when he stayed for a bit and proceeded to leave again. None of these visits lasted longer than two weeks.

"Yeah. I woke up a bit early today, and couldn't go back to sleep, so i figured i'd get dressed." Nana just gives Tsuna another of her signature smiles before turning around.

"Well, hopefully it becomes a pattern! Anyways, breakfast is ready, Tsu-kun. It's eggs today." This raises Tsuna's spirits greatly. Eggs are one of his favorite foods, and just what he needs after the insanity of this morning. Pumping his fist, he jumps just a little when he gets another notification.

 _*Ding!*_

 _+1 Experience to Punch!_

 _Punch has Leveled up!_

 _Punch Lvl 4/100 (0/100 Exp)_

 _+1Str every 5th level_

 _Current base fist damage = Str+Punch Level = 7(+1)+4 = 11(12) Dmg_

Well, now he can knock himself out with just 8 punches. Not even that revelation is quite enough to kill his mood. Following his mother after grabbing his backpack, Tsuna's first stumble of the day happens quite literally.

Swinging his backpack onto his back, Tsuna accidentally uses too much of his now 8 points of strength and his backpack tugs him to the side. This wouldn't have been too much of an issue, if Tsuna hadn't been on the edge of the top stair, one foot raised and about to go downwards.

Flailing his arms wildly, Tsuna desperately tries to correct his balance. After a heart-stopping three seconds of this, the inevitable happens. His body freezes up, followed by:

 _*Ding!*_

 _New Skill!_

 _You have created the Non-Combat Skill: Balance!_

 _Balance Lvl 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: Falling hurts, so don't do it! This skill does as you'd expect, and increases your ability to keep a solid footing._

 _+1% chance to succeed a Balance check_

Immediately following this notification, Tsuna hears a sound that hadn't popped up yet in the last two and a half hours of his video-game life. He hears what sounds like something clattering, like somebody was rolling a dice against a wooden table though he isn't sure why that particular image is the one he thought of first.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have succeeded your Balance check!_

 _+5 Exp to Balance_

 _Balance is now at 5/10 Exp._

And with that Tsuna suddenly regains control of himself, his feet landing on the ground and not budging. With a sigh of relief, Tsuna starts walking down the stairs again.

'Huh, a new Skill. Sounds pretty useful. I don't particularly like falling down-' His thoughts are interrupted when, in his deep thoughts, Tsuna misjudges the distance between his foot and the next step. Another clatter, and...

 _*Buzz!*_

 _You have failed your balance check!_

 _Have a nice trip!_

'Oh come on!' Tsuna proceeds to fall face first into the stairs, tumbling down like a runaway bouncing ball. Landing in a heap, Tsuna groans in pain as Nana peaks her head out of the kitchen.

"You alright there Tsu-kun?"

"The only thing hurt is my pride" is her only response. Giggling away, she leans back into the Kitchen to finish setting the table. Standing up and dusting himself off, Tsuna looks to the left as another new feature of his life makes itself known.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have taken 5 damage._

 _Current Health is at 90/95_

This time it's in a little red box, as opposed to the blue boxes he'd been seeing all morning. At least it seems to correlate with what he's feeling. Tsuna is pretty sure he'll have a slight bruise on his side, but beyond that the fall didn't do too much to him. It certainly did less than what usually happens.

Perhaps that's his 2 new points in Con at work? He lifted his backpack with less effort than usual, despite it feeling like he used the same amount of force as always. Since his physical stats have gone from 5 to 7, technically 8 on Str, it would make sense that he's almost half again as strong as he was yesterday.

Shaking his head, Tsuna decides to think about it later. right now, he has a breakfast to eat. Moving over to the table, Tsuna takes his usual seat and sets his backpack down next to him.

Spending the next 10 minutes eating the delectable breakfast, Tsuna helps collect the dishes before he starts to head out for school. It's a 15 minute walk, and he's got 20 to go before he's late, but he'd rather not run the risk of something crazy happening and delaying him.

Saying his goodbyes, Tsuna grabs his backpack, ties up his shoes -which he can do on his own, thank you very much - and exits the building. Almost immediately, another blue box appears in front of his face, causing him to jump.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Quest Alert!_

 _You have unlocked the repeatable Daily Quest: Get To School!_

 _Description: Make your way to school before 8:30 AM_

 _Rewards:_

 _+10 Exp per completion_

 _+10 Reputation with all Mother, Teachers, and Classmates per completion_

 _+180,000 Exp if completed every time (0/180)_

 _+5000 reputation with Mother, Teachers, and Classmates if completed every time (0/180)_

 _Completion requirements:_

 _-Get to school at 8:29 AM or earlier_

 _Failure Conditions:_

 _-Be Late_

 _-If late, you can still repeat Quest every day, though the rewards for a perfect completion will be unavailable_

 _Do you wish to accept this Quest?_

 _(Y/N)_

'Well, this is nice. Free exp. Also, isn't this literally the example the boxes used when talking about quests?' Yes, Tsuna, yes it is. Good to see you were paying attention. Give the boy a cookie!

 _*Ding!*_

 _For taking care to recall detailed information, you have gained 1 Int!_

Or a stat point, whichever works. Bolstered by the stat point, Tsuna mentally agrees to accept the quest. With another ding, the Y lights up and the box disappears. Another, smaller blue box appears. This one reads:

(20:00)

(19:59)

(19:58)

Well, guess that's his timer. Better get started then, eh? Taking off at a relaxed pace, Tsuna starts on the path to Namimori Middle. Thankfully, the only disruption is when in the middle of his walk, for no apparent reason, he hears that clatter noise again.

Freezing in the middle of humming a tune, Tsuna quickly looks all around him, looking for what might be going on. There's absolutely nothing. No little boxes, nobodies even looking at him twice.

Resuming his walk, Tsuna remains on edge all the way to school. Sadly for his nerves, he sees pretty much the last person he wanted to see.

Short black hair, eyes the color of steel, dressed in the school uniform plus an open black gakuran top hanging loosely on his shoulders. The second most prominent feature of one Hibari Kyoya after his intimidating facial features is the crimson band pinned to the gakuran top signifying him as the head of the disciplinary committee.

Hibari can be currently found standing leisurely in front of the schools front gates, a few of his underlings scattered about so as to 'keep the peace' without 'crowding' Hibari, a crime punishable by a violent, bloody death.

Tsuna has to calm himself down after seeing Hibari, reminding himself that the timer says he still has 6 minutes before he's late. Trying to make himself seem as small as possible, never before has Tsuna been so thankful for the fact that his school wide reputation is along the lines of 'clumsy but completely harmless'.

Tsuna passes by Hibari at a forced pace that remains ever so slightly faster than walking, but definitely isn't running. Another crime punishable with extreme prejudice. Hibari doesn't even acknowledge Tsuna's existence outside of a customary glare, but in Tsuna's opinion, that could just be Hibari's natural expression.

As he walks past Hibari, a random thought runs through Tsuna's mind. Hibari is the strongest person Tsuna knows of, of course, but exactly how strong is he? Tilting his head to look at Hibari's back, Tsuna gives the mental command to Observe him. the clatter of an imaginary dice appears, and...

 _*Ding!*_

 _Hibari Kyoya, The Carnivore_

 _Level: 20_

 _Age: 15_

 _Description: A fierce and violent kid who lives by his own rules, and won't hesitate to beat down anybody who breaks them. Even adults fear to tread before him._

 _*Ding!*_

 _+25 Exp to Observe_

 _Observe is now at 85/100 Exp_

This is...unexpected. Hurrying along his way before anybody notices him stopped in the middle of the walk-way, Tsuna mulls over this information in his head.

Tsuna had expected a ton of things. Perhaps Hibari would be level 10, and it turned out that everyone started at level 1, just like him, or he'd be a complete beast at level 1000, and the actual average level for people was around 50. But for some reason, Hibari is only level 20.

Of course, given this is still Hibari we're talking about, Tsuna can now safely say that 20 is above average, but it doesn't actually explain the difference between Tsuna and Hibari. It's not like he can see Hibari's Stats, although that might be a feature of Observe once he gets it to a higher level. Though, this also raises a question. What's the level cap? Is it 25? 50? 100? Is there even a level cap?

 _*Ding!*_

 _For thinking through all available information and reaching a correct conclusion, you have gained +1 Wis!_

Oh god, if there's no level cap, there could just as easily be people out there with levels ranging in the triple or even quadruple digits! This is too much! Time to find a hole and stay in it for the rest of his life!

'Wait, calm down. Think Tsuna! If Hibari is strong enough that adults can't stand up to him, then clearly he's the strongest person in town! That means most people are less than level twenty, and so long as I just quietly get to be as strong as Hibari, there'll be nothing to worry about! Yeah!'

Bolstered by his 'logical' deduction, Tsuna walking to class, remembering which one he was assigned back during the opening ceremony last week, clutching onto the pendant under his shirt like it's the last safe thing in the world.

Walking into class, the first thing to happen is actually a relief for Tsuna, in the fact that it's completely and totally normal. Normalcy is good, Even if it does involve tripping on the doorway.

 _*Clatter!*_

 _*Buzz!*_

 _You have failed your Balance check!_

*Thump!*

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have taken 5 damage!_

 _Current health is 90/95_

Half of the people in the class start laughing at him, saying the usual round of 'No-good Tsuna at it again', and 'Typical No-good Tsuna'. Giving a weak chuckle to try and play along, Tsuna stands up, brushing himself off. He hadn't paid attention during his walk, too busy thinking about the Quest, but at least this confirmed that is health really did regenerate over time, or else he'd be at 85 rather than 90. Moving into the classroom proper, he makes his way to his seat. The moment he sits down...

 _Quest Complete!_

 _you have completed the Daily Quest: Get to School!_

 _+10 Exp!_

 _+10 Reputation with Mother, Teachers, and Classmates!_

 _You have completed this Quest 1 time out of 180._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendent of Pride has gained 5 Exp!_

Well, at least something went right this morning. As Tsuna gets out the supplies for the first class of the day - Math. Joy. - a sweet voice crosses the air into his ears.

"Sawada-kun? Ah, it is! I'm glad we're in the same class, Sawada-kun. Are you okay? That fall must have hurt." Standing over his desk is somebody he normally would never have had the courage to even look at, let alone make conversation with.

Short brown hair, bright golden eyes, a little on the short side, and slender all the way across. Sasagawa Kyoko is the school's number one idol, and regarded as one of the most popular girls in town. Tsuna has to clutch his hidden pendant as his heart starts and stops no less than three times due to not only the surprise of someone talking to him suddenly, but also the fact that KYOKO is talking to him.

"I think you broke him." This blunt statement is followed by snickers from Kyoko's best friend Kurokawa Hana. Darkly coloured long and wavy hair, dark yet sharp eyes, and an overall refined appearance, Hana is the Yin to Kyoko's Yang. Being far more critical than her companion, Hana is known for being one of the smartest females in the school, and even comes as a close second to Kyoko in popularity. The fact that she's more likely to rip you to shreds verbally than she is to actually go out with a boy her age does little do dissuade people.

"Ah! I-i'm fine, Sasagawa, Kurokawa. T-Thank you for the concern though. I-i'm a-also glad that we're i-in the same class." Rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, Tsuna wonders why there isn't a Luck stat, because he's pretty sure he would have just gained a point or two.

"I see! That's great!" Kyoko just claps her hands and gives another blindingly bright smile, causing Tsuna's rapidly heating face to go into red alert. Thankfully for his hormones, Hana speaks up again.

"You know, i'm actually impressed you managed to get here on time. Even if you did try to merge your face with the floor, it's better than being five minutes late and doing the same. Like middle school."

"Hehe, just got lucky and woke up early today." Best be careful. Hana Kurokawa is known for being able to weed out nearly any information if she feels like it. Don't need her prying into his private life.

Making a little more small talk, Kyoko and Hana eventually move back to their seats as the teacher walks in. Tsuna internally thanks the pendant.

'Oh my god, I actually talked to her! This pendant is working like a charm!' Ah, Tsuna. The power of the placebo is strong with this one. Shaking himself from his reverie, Tsuna prepares himself for class. If he's kept track of everything so far, he's now at 7's across the board. Still below par, but it's still almost a full 50% increase from yesterday.

And it's with great pleasure that Tsuna finds himself following the lecture far easier than any other time thus far in his academic career. He's still not able to answer all the questions, or solve all the problems, but he does well enough that the teacher and even the other students are surprised by the improvement. By the end of class, he had gained a point in both Int and Wis, as well as another 25 reputation points for the groups 'Teachers' and 'Classmates'.

As the first class ends, and he lets the joy of actually seeing his life get better with every turn fill him to bursting, Tsuna decides to spend the 5 minutes before the next class Observing his classmates. A few take two or three tries to succeed the 'roll', but with nothing but time on his hands, waiting a few seconds to learn that his attempt failed and then try again doesn't really mean anything.

 _Sasagawa Kyoko_

 _Level 7_

 _Description: A stunning young lady, regarded as the Idol of Namimori Middle. Kind of an airhead._

 _Kurokawa Hana_

 _Level 8_

 _Description: Regarded as the most mature girl in Namimori Middle, Hana prides herself on her intelligence. Hates children and boys who act like children._

The rest of his classmates follow a similar pattern. Most of them are between levels 6 and 8, and when he took a peak at the teacher before he left the room, he saw that they were level 10. If this is standard, then it looks like most kids Tsuna's age average at level 7, and adults average at level 10. Man, Hibari really is insane, being literally twice as powerful as a full-grown adult.

Observing 20 people, at exactly 25 Exp per person, nets Tsuna a total of 500 Exp for Observe. Now it's at level 6 with 285/300 Experience. No new features unfortunately, though the max level difference is now 25.

It also serves to confirm something to Tsuna. As of right now, it would appear that once a Skill hits level 4, every level up takes a multiple of 100, with a level 5 skill taking 200 Exp to get to level 6, and level 6 Skill taking 300 to get to 7.

Seeing as Levels take the same path, to get the remaining...13 points needed to even out his scores will take the equivalent of three more Levels. 15 more to get to level 2, 50 to get to level 3, and 100 to get too level 4. That's 165 Experience, or 17 completions of the Daily Quest.

17 days, plus the weekends, that actually equates to almost a month. That's... a lot slower than what he had projected that manually raising his stats would take this morning.

'I suppose that means that I can't rely on levels to get my points. If it takes me another two days to get to level 2, that's 48 hours. Subtract 16 for sleep, that gives me 32 hours to work on my Stats. If I divide it further, I get 16 'school' hours and 16 'not school' hours.'

It took an hour of class to raise Int and Wis by a point each, meaning point 9 will take 2 hours, and 10 will take 4. That's 6 hours for the Mental Stats.

'Heck I can get that done before the end of today!' Tsuna is greatly pleased by this. It means he's that much closer to getting rid of his 'No-Good' title. Of course, that means that points 11 will take 8 hours, 12 will take 16, and soon they'll take multiple days. But Tsuna's just recently turned 15. He has plenty of time to work on self-improvement.

The more difficult part will be raising his physical stats. If it'll take him an hour to get Str up to 8, it'll take a total 7 hours of focusing just on Str to get that to 10. And he still has no idea how to raise either Dex or Con.

As the next teacher walks in Tsuna shelves the thought for later. He has two more classes, lunch, PE, and the final two classes of the day to think this over. With a small jolt about 15 minutes into class, he suddenly remembers that he hasn't used Observe on this teacher yet.

And now that Tsuna thinks about it, he hadn't used it at all during his walk here! How foolish! Rule number one to any game: Grind as often as you can! He's not going to do the math right now, but seeing the pattern his Skills are taking with the Exp requirements to level up, it'll probably take close to a million Exp to max Observe. And seeing as he only gets 5 Exp for every inanimate item and 25 for every person, it'll probably take him months to level it up! He can't afford to slack off on this!

Rousing himself from his near panic attack by clutching onto his placebo pendant, Tsuna throws a quick observe at his teacher. Now he just needs 15 Exp to hit Level 7 with that. This teacher is also level 9, meaning Tsuna's probably right in assuming the average level for people is around 10.

Apparently the Math teacher had spread word that Tsuna had suddenly improved by leaps and bounds. Nezu Dohachiro, the science teacher, grilled Tsuna for all he was worth over the course of the class, no doubt trying to see if Tsuna was cheating his way to success. When he inevitable found no deception abound, Tsuna tried his best not to react to the notification he got after the roughest science class he'd ever dealt with.

 _*Ding!*_

 _For proving that your newfound intelligence isn't a fluke, you have gained 50 Reputation with groups 'Teachers' and 'Classmates'!_

 _Updated Reputations:_

 _Teachers: Disliked (935/1000)_

 _Classmates: Disliked (785/1000)_

This trend continues for the next class, though it's nowhere near as tough as Nezu's class was. Another 25 Exp for Observing the teacher, plus he even gets another point in Int and Wis when the bell for Lunch starts. That brings him up to a cool 9 apiece. His reputations also bump up another 25, getting them to 960 and 810 respectively. Here soon he'll be able to get those to bump up to 'Neutral'. Who knows, at this rate he might even get it into 'Liked' status.

Of course, the biggest surprise of his life happens to be right around the corner for him. Pulling out a boxed lunch his mom had made for him last night from his backpack, Tsuna stands and turns around only to see Kyoko and Hana behind him. While he tries to restart his heart for the fourth time that day, Kyoko speaks up in her usual cheerful tone.

"Hey Sawada-kun! I was curious if you wanted to have lunch with me and Hana?" System error, Tsuna dot exe has stopped working. Please initiate a hard reboot.

"Wow. I was expecting blushing, stammering, and denial. Total silence? Not on the list. I think he really is broken this time." Thankfully, Hana is always prepared with a witty retort. As she starts chuckling to herself, Tsuna comes out of his mental reset in time to avoid being a complete fool. Thankfully he's only partly a fool.

"I- uh, i'd love to! But why me?"

'Remind me to thank the voice in the boxes for this pendant.' Ah, that never gets old. The sheer amount of progress Tsuna's made in one day using only hard work, a placebo effect, and a dash of reality-breaking, possibly-paranormal abilities. It's a thing of beauty.

"Hmm, because I felt like it!" And Kyoko, sweet, sweet Kyoko. Not a whole lot going on upstairs, huh? Hana shares this observation, unbeknownst to everyone besides us observers.

"I'm only going along with this because Kyoko set her mind on it, and it's impossible to get her to change her mind. I swear she gets it from that idiot of a brother she has."

"Brother?" Tsuna absently grabs his boxed lunch as he starts to follow the two girls out of the classroom. Kyoko is the one to answer Tsuna's half-formed question, much to his hearts dismay.

"Yeah! Onii-chan is the captain of the boxing club!" Oh yeah, Tsuna recalls seeing a shock of white hair followed by screams of 'extreme' coming from that area. He swore once, and he'll swear again if need be, to have nothing to do with whatever manner of being created such havok.

Eventually the three teens find themselves alone on the rooftop of the building, Tsuna leaning up against the large green fence surrounding the roof. His heart stopped for a second when it tilted slightly and gave a groan when he leaned against it, but thankfully it held. Hana and Kyoko however didn't hold their laughter in at Tsuna's...less than manly sound.

After a few minutes of small talk, Kyoko finally gets around to the crux of why she wanted to talk to Tsuna today. You know, outside of simply following a whim. Which makes up 75% of what she does with her life on a day to day basis.

"You know, Sawada-kun, you really seem on top of it today! I was impressed! Even the teachers seemed happy." Hana resolutely nods her head next to Kyoko.

"Indeed. It's like you've pulled a 180 overnight. It's almost enough for me to think there's actually a brain rattling about somewhere in that skull of yours." Tsuna ignores Kyoko lightly chiding her friend for her choice in words as he internally panics.

'What am I supposed to say?! 'Little blue boxes changed my life'? Yeah, because the best way to get Kyoko-chan to notice me is to get sent to an insane asylum!' Unheeding of his mental anguish, the two girls look back towards their companion, clearly expecting answers.

"W-Well, I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed today?" Before anything can happen to Tsuna's obviously horrible attempt at deflection, two things happen in rapid succession.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Skill Created!_

 _You have discovered the Non-combat Skill: Persuasion!_

 _Persuasion Lvl 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: Lies, bending of the truth, pep talks, storytelling, seduction, and speeches. All of these use your ability to convince people to believe a certain thing as 'reality'. Level up this skill to make people listen when you talk!_

 _+1% chance per level for people to either do as you say or believe what you say, regardless of its scientific basis._

 _*Clatter*_

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have succeeded your Persuasion Check!_

 _+5 Exp to Persuasion, Current Exp is 5/10_

Thankfully, Kyoko seems to accept it with absolutely no thought that it might be anything less than the total truth. Somehow. Despite the fact that he had even phrased it more like a question than an answer. She's lucky she's pretty. Hana on the other hand looks a little suspicious for a moment before scoffing and shaking her head.

"Well whatever it is, try and make a habit of it. You're at least not a complete monkey like the other boys our age, so if you manage to actually grow some brain-cells you might even become a decent human being."

Harsh man, harsh. Well, it's not like Tsuna's gonna fight it, considering her dismissive attitude is probably the only thing that helped his...Persuasion check. And boy if that's not what he had expected to happen when the two most popular girls in his school asked him to have lunch with them.

After finishing their food, the three start to make their way back to their classroom. It's PE next, and Tsuna is half dreading, half hopeful for this class. He dreads it because it's always been one of his least favorite classes. At least with math or science the pain of failure is just in his pride and self-confidence. With PE the pain is very much physical.

As Tsuna enters the classroom, he passes the other girls in the class as they exit it to wait out in the hall. In this particular school, seeing as they lack as segregated changing room for the different genders, boys and girls take turns changing in the classroom.

Boys go first while girls stand in the hall, and once all the boys are accounted for, the boys move out into the hall while the girls change. For the sake of privacy, the windows facing the hall all have curtains that get drawn during changing time.

As Tsuna mechanically removes his shirt, tie, and pants, he mentally begrudges that at the very least PE should help him with his stats. He knows for a fact that doing things like push-ups can increase Str, and Tsuna's guessing that running will increase his Dex, but he still has absolutely no idea how to increase Constitution. How exactly does one increase how 'healthy' they are?

By the time Tsun gets dragged out of his thoughts, he's surprised to notice that he's walked into the hall with the others on auto-pilot. Before going into the room to change though, Kyoko's voice spears through his thoughts once more.

"Wow! What a cool necklace! Where'd you get it, Sawada-san?" Necklace? Looking down, Tsuna notices that in the haze of deep thought, he's still wearing the Pride Pendent, this time hanging over his shirt in full view.

"Oh! Uh, this? I uh, found it at an antique shop the other day. I thought it looked cool so I bought it. I kinda forgot I was wearing it, hehe." As Kyoko fawns over the item that Tsuna isn't actually entirely sure what it's made of, Hana scoffs in her usual fashion.

"Only you would buy something so tacky and then forget that you're wearing it. Let's go, Kyoko." With that, she takes her friends hand and almost physically dragsa her away. Tsuna breathes a sigh of relief only to jump in fright as he turns around. There are actually two reasons why he's scared this time.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have gained 25 reputation with Kyoko Sasagawa!_

 _Current Reputation: Liked (260/1000)_

'25 reputation? For a necklace? What on earth is going on here?!' Poor Tsuna. Of course, whatever good mood he might have felt at raising his rep with the girl of his dreams is promptly crushed by the second reason he jumped in fright.

"Since when are you so close to Sasagawa-san, huh?" Tsuna's actually not too sure which guy said that, seeing as he's never gotten close enough to any of his classmates to remember their names, even after using Observe. It doesn't really matter anyways though, since every other guy from his class mirrors the first's sentiments.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Skill Created!_

 _By experiencing the raw hatred of another being, you have unlocked the Combat Skill: Sense Danger!_

 _Sense Danger Level 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you! You have an innate ability to tell when someone nearby wants to hurt you. Passive._

 _Range: 1 meter_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Someone within 1 meter wants to hurt you!_

 _Sense Danger has gained 25 Exp!_

As it is, that last message almost sent Tsuna into a gibbering mess of fear on it's own. The fact that it repeated itself a total of 9 times - once for each of his male classmates - only made matters worse for our intrepid hero to be.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Sense Danger has levelled up!_

 _Sense Danger is now at Level 5/100 (40/200 Exp)_

 _Range: 5 meters_

Thankfully, as upset as the boys are, none of them decide to take things any further than glaring and muttering vague curses as Tsuna stutters and mumbles excuses, not even trying to Persuade his way out of this. Talk about a weak spine.

When the girls exit the room, the cold and dangerous atmosphere evaporates as quickly as it appears. And just like nothing happened, everybody is back to chatting and playing around.

Clasping his pendant for dear life, Tsuna only has one thing to say about his life as Kyoko drags Hana with her to talk with Tsuna on the way to the field.

'Why me?' No, he did not whimper a little on the inside when three more notifications for Sense Danger popped up on the walk to the field. Not at all. At least he can take a small, absolutely miniscule, joy out of the fact that apparently he gets Exp every time someone wants to hurt him rather than once per person, like Observe.

Finally reaching the field, Tsuna steels his resolve as much as he can, and looks towards his teacher, hitting her with a quick Observe while he's at it.

 _*Clatter*_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Rebecca 'Revy' Lee, the Two-Handed_

 _Level: ?_

 _Description: Part of the Black Lagoon Mafia Family, Revy is currently scouting for potential members. She decided to do so by becoming a gym teacher. May or may not be a psychopathic sadist._

What?

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Day 1, part 2**

 **AN:** Salutations! Here we are once more to the headache that is Game of Flames, not to be confused with A Game of Thrones. Murder is scarce in these parts, and the directors have yet to reach a consensus on nudity. So until then, let's all just enjoy the misfortune of one Sawada Tsunayoshi. Also, just a side note, I realize i'm a bit hectic in whether I refer to people by given name-family name, or family name-given name. This is simply because i'm american, and us in the 'west' typically do it given name-family name, whereas those in the 'east', e.g. Japan, typically do it family name-given name. See HA,R for further examples on how mixing cultures gets a bit weird especially when the author has no idea what he's talking about. Anyways, for a general consensus, the people will refer to each other by family-given, whereas The Game will typically refer to them as given-family. Now that that's out of the way, let's get this show on the road!

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

"Alright kids, up on the line! It's time for public humiliation! For the next three days we're doing a school-wide physical competition. Today we'll run laps, then we'll have you do pushups. Tomorrow will be side-hops followed by the high-jump. Wednesday starts with sit-ups, and we'll end on the shot-put. The results will be put up on campus next monday. The better you do in each event, the better your score over-all."

Most of the class mutters amongst themselves, the only exception being one Tsunayoshi Sawada. Eyes wide, face pale, mouth opened slightly, arms hanging limp at his side, he looks for all the world like a man who just saw a ghost. Tsuna kinda wishes it was a ghost. Or at least he would if he was capable of thinking.

Inside Tsuna's Mind

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"WHY?! WHY WOULD THE MAFIA BE HERE?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Back in reality

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?! Everybody get in line to start running! Time's a ticking!" Moving on complete auto-pilot, Tsuna moves into position and reads the Quest pop-up that appears.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Be a Man! (Part 1 of 6)_

 _Description: Wait, wrong universe. Oh well. Prove to the whole school that you're not the wimp you once were! You've half an hour to run as many laps as you can._

 _Completion Requirements:_

 _-Complete at least 15 laps_

 _-Bonus exp for every extra lap_

 _Failure Conditions:_

 _-Do not complete 15 laps in the alloted time._

 _Rewards for success:_

 _+10 Exp per lap completed up to 15, +15 for every lap over 15_

 _+1 Dex_

 _Rewards for Failure:_

 _+5 Exp per lap completed._

 _+The shame of being weak_

 _Accept Quest?_

 _Y/N_

Still lacking any higher brain function, Tsuna automatically accepts it, and gets into a rough starting pose. Around him, his fellow students get into their own stances.

"Alright, you maggots wasted about 4 minutes of your time bustling about like chickens with their heads cut off, so you better hope you make it up on the field! Get Ready! Start!"

And like that, the class of 20 is off. Taking two strides, Tsuna gets a pop up. Thankfully, his brain can't panic any harder than it already is, so his auto-piloting body looks it over with a clinical gaze, not breaking stride.

 _*Ding!*_

 _New Skill Created!_

 _You have created the Non-Combat Skill: Running_

 _Running lvl 1/100 (0/10 exp)_

 _Description: One of the first things evolution gifted humanity, in order to avoid being eaten. You're not likely to run into any tigers in Namimori, but there are plenty of times where Flight is better than Fight._

 _+Raises Movement Speed by 1.25 times Dex, Current bonus = 7*1.25 = 8.75, translates to roughly 3.9 meters per second._

 _+1 Dex every 5 levels_

Another two strides later, and another ding goes off, informing Tsuna that he just earned 1 experience point to running. Tsuna's body ignores this, as well as the notifications that pop up every two strides, or roughly every two meters he runs. Deep within his mind, one tiny representation of Tsuna is trying to calculate how hard it would be to fake his death, change his name, and move to china. Probably very, considering he can't speak chinese.

25 minutes later, Tsuna's run 18 laps and is bending over, hands on the knees, gasping for breath, and his skill now reads:

 _Running Lvl 12/100 (0/900 Exp)_

 _+Raises movement Speed by 1.36 times Dex, Current bonus = 9*1.36 = 12.24, roughly translates to 5.47 m/s_

 _+1 Dex every 5 levels (Current boost = 2)_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Quest Complete!_

 _You have completed the Quest: Be a Man! (Part 1 of 6)_

 _You ran (18) laps, which is (3 more) than the required amount!_

 _Total Exp gain is 150+45 = 195 Exp!_

 _+1 Dex!_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Level Up!_

 _You have gained (3) Level(s)!_

 _You are now Level 4 (35/200 Exp)_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendent of Pride has gained 97 Exp!_

 _Pendent of Pride is now Level 4/100 (17/100 Exp)_

That snaps Tsuna out of his shock. Three levels? And if that Running skill really did add two dex, that means...if he uses 8 of his 15 new Free Points, he can bump everything up to 10! Suddenly that week's worth of effort got solved in a single half hour.

Of course, thinking about things logically, he should wait until after class to think things over. Right now he's got other things to worry about. For example, apparently his gym teacher is part of the Mafia. Speaking of...

"Alright, breaks over! I hope you guys aren't exhausted yet, because now it's time for push-ups! Everybody get in position! On my signal, start counting them out as you do them!" Tsuna moves to get in line, flinching a bit as a box appears.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Quest Alert!_

 _Be a Man! (Part 2 of 6)_

 _Description: First you were swift as a coursing river, now it's time to have the force of a great typhoon! Drop and give me 20!_

 _Completion Requirements:_

 _-Do 20 push-ups in the next half-hour_

 _-bonus Exp for every one after 20_

 _Failure Conditions:_

 _-Do not do 20 push-ups within half an hour_

 _Rewards for Success:_

 _+10 Exp for every push-up up to 20, +15 for every push-up above 20_

 _+1 Str_

 _Rewards for Failure:_

 _+5 Exp per push-up_

 _+Shame of weakness_

 _Accept Quest?_

 _Y/N_

'Well, not like i've any choice really. Even if I fail, that's still better than declining the quest and getting nothing for my work. And if I do all 20, that'll give me enough experience to level up again!'

"Ready! Begin!" As Tsuna accepts the quest, his teacher - still gonna have to panic about that some more when he has the chance - starts them off. Hoping his 7's in Str and Con actually mean something, Tsuna begins to go through the motions of doing a push-up. Down, hold for a second, and up.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Skill Created!_

 _you have created the Non-Combat Skill: Endurance!_

 _Endurance Lvl 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: Repeated Physical activity has granted you the ability to push your body harder and longer than before, allowing you to partake in tiring activities for longer. Can be applied to ANY physical activity._

 _+1 Con every 5 levels._

Well, that was useful. He finally has a way to increase his Con, even if the phrasing seems a bit weird. Why did it emphasise the word 'any'? Tsuna shakes his head and continues doing push-ups, finding them slightly easier than they were just this morning. A sign that he is actually improving.

Each push-up after the very first nets him 10 Experience to the skill. Pushing his new Stats and Skill to the limit, Tsuna just barely manages to finish the 20th push-up before Revy's whistle shrieks across the field.

"Alright idiots, class is over. You've got 15 minutes to go back to your classroom and get changed. Get a move on!" After dismissing the class, she reads over a clipboard, making occasional marks. Tsuna thinks she takes a glance at him, but it's so fast that he's pretty sure that his paranoia just imagined it.

Walking back to the classroom to change, in reverse order this time, Tsuna takes the moment resting against the wall of the hallway to read over the three boxes left in his face.

 _Endurance Lvl 5/100 (5/200 Exp)_

 _+1 con every 5 levels (Current boost = 1)_

 _Quest Complete!_

 _You have completed the Quest: Be a Man! (2 of 6)_

 _Rewards:_

 _+200 Exp_

 _+1 Str_

 _Level Up!_

 _You are now Level 5 (35/300 Exp)!_

Well, now he's got 20 Free Points at his disposal, and taking a look at his Status shows an 9 in Str, 10 Dex, 8 Con, 9 Int, 9 wis, and his 10 in Cha hasn't changed at all. If he wants to bump things up to 10's down the line, he'd only need to use 5 of his 20 points, leaving him with 15. Unless the quest doesn't count the +1 from the pendent, in which case he'll need 6 points.

Although, does he really want to do that? Assuming the difficulty in raising them is based on his current stats rather than how many he's earned himself, then it's now going to take several hours work to raise any one of them up a single point, and here soon it'll take entire days to raise them. Of course, if he gets rid of 'No-Good', then he'll increase his rate of growth by 25% to everything.

On the grand scheme of things, going from 4 hours to increase a stat to 3 hours may not seem like much, but when it takes 4 days to increase it, taking a full day off that is much better. But is it worth it if the process adds another 3 days to how long it'll take it to rise?

And at this rate he'll get his mental stats up to 10 either by the end of the day, or some time tomorrow, with his Physical stats taking only a little longer than that. So therefore, the best thing to do would be to save those points for later, when he needs a boost in one stat or the other quickly, but it'll take weeks or even months to bump them up even one point.

 _*Ding!*_

 _For thinking things through and coming to a logical decision, you have gained +1 Wis!_

'Looks like the boxes agree.' Of course, Tsuna finds himself unable to really enjoy the stat point. The reason? His gym teacher is a god-damned mafia member! This makes no sense! MAFIA! Tsuna hadn't ever thought that they were anything other than stories.

If the mafia is real and in Namimori, then what they hell else is a thing? Vampires? Magic? Hell, is his dad a member of the Mafia?!

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have discovered information critical to playing The Game!_

 _It is suggested that you review your Status to see what may have changed._

What. The. Actual. Fuck. So far the 'Game' has only ever responded when he got something right. Did that mean...his dad really was part of the mafia? That'd explain a lot actually. Like how he's never around, and his eccentric behavior. Although that last one might just be Iemitsu.

Now fully dressed, Tsuna absently throws another Observe at his next teacher as they walk in. Now that particular skill only needs about 300 exp to level, which come out to...about 60 inanimate objects, 12 people, or any of a million combinations of those two.

'Status.' Might as well check this out while working on his class work. Man, having a 9 Int and 10 Wis does wonders for a person's ability to multitask.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 205/205_

 _?: ?/?_

 _Level: 5_

 _Exp: 35/300_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 8 (+1) = 9_

 _Dex: 10_

 _Con: 8_

 _Int: 9_

 _Wis: 10_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Free Points: 20_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills, +25% ?, +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with Mafia families allied to ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% ?, +50% Reputation gains with Mafia families allied with ?, +75% Reputation gains with ?, +? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed_

Well, that answers that. His dad is in the mafia. It's highly probable that it's the same family that 'Descendent of blank' is talking about, and judging by the fact that they seem to know each other, it's more than likely that Timoteo is part of the same family. Though that raises the question:

'Who the hell is my dad, really? And who is Timoteo? I'd question if that really is his name, but the boxes have yet to be wrong about a name, so that's unlikely.'

The down side to knowing that he doesn't know something is that now he's on edge. The unknown is dangerous, and danger is bad. A bit crude and overly simplistic, perhaps, but it's the same mentality that kept humanity alive back when they had nothing but sticks and stones to defend themselves against the world around them.

Trying to keep his mind on the last two classes of the day, Tsuna barely reacts when, two hours later, he's rewarded with his tenth Int point. Perhaps multi-tasking and thinking about his new, or rather newly revealed, family status helped speed up the rate that he earned it?

Packing up his stuff, Tsuna starts walking home. Kyoko lives in the same general direction but she's off with Hana and a few other girls from class, so Tsuna couldn't walk with her even if he had the courage to ask. Which he doesn't.

Besides that, nobody else is close enough to warrant the title 'friend', so Tsuna doesn't wait up on anybody after the class cleans up the room to end the day. He just grabs his bag and walks on home.

Remembering something he had thought of at the beginning of the day, he hits anything and anybody along his path with Observe, including animals and starts running towards home in order to level that up as well.

It's about a kilometer from school to home, so it takes Tsuna about 5 minutes to run there, getting him 500 exp to Running, which puts him at 400 till the next level.

Along the way he sees 20 different people, 7 dogs, 3 squirrels, a cat, and no less than 158 different inanimate objects, counting trash, trash cans, buildings, signs, and plants. He also learned while trying to hit a bird in the sky with Observe that apparently you need to be within 30 meters of something or somebody to Observe it. He'll have to see later if it works through binoculars.

Apparently animals count as 10 Exp, as opposed to the 5 for objects and plants, and the 25 for people this tallies up as (20*25)+(11*10)+(158*5), or 1400 Exp for Observe. The end result: Observe Lvl 9 (560/600 Exp), and unfortunately no new information.

Sadly for Tsuna, running isn't the only thing he has to do today. As his house comes into sight, the clatter noise appears again, for the first time since this morning.

 _*Buzz!*_

Suddenly, Tsuna finds his body freezing against his will. The world around him pauses, before everything shifts in an almost imperceptible manner, and then the world cracks.

The crack starts small, in the dead center of Tsuna's sight, then it rapidly expands to cover everything Tsuna sees, before everything shatters. The world goes black, and then snaps back into focus.

Looking around, Tsuna sees that everything is the same except for one crucial detail. He's the only one around. There's no people, no animals, and the city is dead silent. Starting to hyperventilate, Tsuna shrieks when a soft ding announces the arrival of another blue box. Catching his breath, he reads it, desperate for answers.

 _Random encounter!_

 _Congratulations, you just found your first random encounter!_

 _Random encounters are times where you will, as the name suggests, randomly encounter a dangerous entity created by The Game in order to test your might in mortal combat!_

 _Random Encounters can happen at any point when you are not in a designated 'safe zone' such as home or school. Encounters have a potential to happen every time you leave a 'safe zone', though if you remain outside a safe zone, you are given one hour between times where The Game performs a check to see if you encounter anything._

 _If you 'encounter' something, an I.D. will spring up around you - you do remember those, right? - and time outside the encounter will remain paused until either you succeed in killing your foe, or they kill you._

 _The rules for what exactly you encounter is that any time an encounter is 'triggered', you will face between 1 and 4 creatures that will be between level 0 and half your level. This means sometimes you'll encounter a single level 0 creature, but sometimes you'll have to face 4 creatures that are half your level._

 _Because this is your first encounter, The Game has automatically decided that you will face only one target. Now, let's see what creature you'll face!_

 _*Clatter*_

Suddenly, a tear in the air appears appears about 10 meters away from Tsuna's position. It opens slowly, revealing a pitch black void. From it, an odd imp like creature with scraggly limbs and wings emerges, the tear closing up behind it. The boxes pop up once more, the imp creature thankfully staying still for now.

 _Ooh, a Steam Mephit, challenge rank: 1/4._

 _Not a bad first draw!_

 _Now, it's time for you and the Mephit to try and brutally murder one another. You have thirty seconds after this message disappears to make a plan._

 _Good luck!_

'What?'

 _*Ding!*_

30

29

"What the hell?! What is this?! What is that?! What do you mean 'kill each other'?!"

20

19

The boxes are merciless. Gripping his head for a moment in sheer panic, Tsuna grabs onto his pendent and tries to forcibly calm himself. He is...mildly successful.

15

14

'Okay, okay, I can do this. It's not a real creature. I can do this. Think, what can it do? I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT CAN DO! Wait! Observe!'

 _*Ding!*_

 _Steam Mephit_

 _CR: 1/4_

 _Description: An imp made from the primordial energies and given shape by The Game. Physically weak, it's main attack is using its ability to breath hot steam on people to distract them while it attacks with its claws._

5

4

That is...less helpful than he had hoped, but at least it's something. Taking several deep breaths to prepare himself, Tsuna shifts into a loose stance to allow him to either use all 12 punch damage he has or to dodge to the side if the...Mephit attacks.

When the timer hits 0, a loud ringing like you'd hear in a boxing match rings out, followed by...background music? Unless he's mistake, the opening chords to 'Show me what you've got' by Powerman 5k are coming from nowhere.

The distraction almost costs him, as in his quest to remember the source of the music suddenly blaring, the imp suddenly darts forward. About a meter from Tsuna, it rears back it's head before bellowing out a cloud of steam at the teen.

"HIEEEE!" With a...manly yell...yes, that's what we'll call it for now. With a 'manly yell', Tsuna activates Running, giving him a speed equaling roughly 6 meters per second.

With the sudden boost, he jumps out of the path of the steam cloud. Seeing that it's attack failed, the Mephit backs up a little. Tsuna shakily gets back into his starting pose.

'That was close! I'm not sure how much that'd hurt, and Observe mentioned that it'll try to hit me with it's claws if it hits me with it's steam. I really don't want to find out how much those would hurt either. I have to play this carefully.'

Seeing that it's opponent wasn't going to come to it, the imp tries to rush Tsuna again. this time more prepared, Tsuna activates Running again, narrowly avoiding the steam cloud once more. This time, instead of staying still, Tsuna tries to attack the Mephit.

Sadly, in his inexperience, he didn't quite manage to hit the imps chest, his target. He does manage to hit the imps arm as it dodges out of the way though. With a surprising amount of force, the imp spins away from the impact, now clutching it's arm. A red box appears above it for a moment before fading.

 **-6 dmg**

So, apparently a grazing hit counts as half damage. Good to know. If only he knew how much health the damn thing had. The imp, now enraged, rushes Tsuna, trying to claw his face up. Weaving out of the way of the attacks as smoothly as he could - which is to say not smooth at all - Tsuna's downfall comes in the form of a soft ding and a blue box. Typical.

The distraction proves just enough for the imp to get in a clean hit against Tsuna's arm, ripping his shirt and drawing some blood. With a howl of surprise and pain, Tsuna lashes out with a clumsy swing that misses but causes the Mephit to back off for now.

 **-5 HP**

 **You are now at 200/205**

Trying to hold back tears, Tsuna at least takes solace in the fact that the Mephit would probably have to hit him another 40 times in order to actually kill kim. The down side? Pain really fucking hurts.

Now both sides are glaring at each other, though Tsuna's eyes also hold a good amount of fear, which the imp lacks. Taking a chance to end this as soon as possible, Tsuna ignores the pain in his arm and rushes straight at the imp.

Responding to the movement, the Steam Mephit once more lives up to its name and releases a cloud of piping hot steam at Tsuna. This time, instead of dodging, Tsuna barrels through it, tanking the 6 damage it deals, and ignoring the fact that he can no longer see clearly. Taking a wild swing at where the imp had been standing last he saw, Tsuna felt his fist colliding with something.

Panting and blinking his eyes to clear them up, Tsuna sees the imp laying on the ground a few feet away, a red box above it showing that Tsuna apparently did a critical attack, which results in double damage. 24 damage in this case. The imp doesn't move to get back up, though it thankfully doesn't have any outward damage that would indicate a lethal wound.

Tsuna's pretty sure he couldn't handle the trauma of actually killing a living being, even one created by the Game. Lasting just long enough to avoid giving Tsuna some emotional scarring, the body is suddenly enveloped in a golden glow, before starting to disperse like floating glitter.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Congratulations on winning your first Random Encounter!_

 _For defeating a Steam Mephit with a Cr of 1/4, you have earned the rewards:_

 _+50 Exp_

 _You will now be released from the I.D._

With that, the world suddenly shatters again. Tsuna is standing back in the position that he had been in before the Random Encounter had started, about 5 meters away from where he had been a second ago. Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Tsuna decides to read the three blue boxes that appeared after he returned to reality.

 _For use in battle, the Skills Punch and Running have gained Experience._

 _For hitting a living and moving target twice, you have gained 50 Exp to Punch._

 _For using Running to dodge two attacks, you have gained 50 Exp to Running, and created the Combat Skill: Dodge._

 _Dodge Lvl 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _Description: Getting hurt sucks. You know what doesn't suck? DODGE!_

 _+10% movement speed when attempting to evade an attack. Passive._

 _Pendent of Pride has gained 25 Exp!_

 _Pendent of Pride is Lvl 4/100 (42/100 Exp)_

Shaking his head at how many random skills he's gotten today, Tsuna dismisses the boxes. Trying to distract himself, Tsuna wonders why he didn't get any money. Aren't you supposed to get money from beating monsters in a game? Well, now that he thinks about it, Tsuna supposes it's better this way.

Where would the money come from anyways? Stat points and experience Tsuna can understand, because that's just the Game messing with his body and chronicling how much literal experience he has with a skill. But money?

According to logic, only two things are physically possible there. Either The Game would be printing money, or it'd be taking that money from somewhere else. Obviously the Game would have to make it 'real money' that the 'real world' would recognize, because why else would it even give it to him if he can't use it in day to day life?

If it's stealing the money from somewhere, is it doing it just from one person? Is there a random person in Japan out there suddenly short 1000 Yen? Or would the game take a tiny amount of money from everybody in the world? If so, it'd be like taking a fraction of a fraction of a single yen from everybody in the world, which would be impossible to keep track of.

All of these are potentially horrible options. If the game can just print money, what happens if Tsuna defeats a random encounter that gives him a million Yen, or a billion Yen? Isn't Inflation kind of a big deal?

But if it's stealing the money, then that's even worse. If it's a single person, then Tsuna's sure cops would be on his trail within weeks, even if he only 'earns' 1000 Yen every day. And if the Game gives him larger sums, he'd rapidly be behind bars and interrogated on how exactly he managed to steal from a secure vault leaving zero evidence except the fact that the bills stolen are suddenly reported as being used by some random teen.

Of course, that could be avoided if Tsuna never actually uses the money, but that still leaves the problem of him potentially ending up holding all the money available in the world after a while of living this 'Game'.

The best possible option would be if The Game is taking the money from every human out there at once, because that means instead of one person missing hundreds of thousands of Yen, everyone in the world just suddenly finds themselves a Yen or two shorter. Of course, that still leaves the issue of Tsuna holding an inordinate amount of money, not to mention how that translates across currencies.

With no discernable income, if Tsuna starts waving around any significant amount of cash, he'd no doubt catch somebodies attention sooner rather than later. So yeah, thinking about it, it's better this way, where he doesn't have to think about the issue at all because it isn't a factor.

Opening his front door, Tsuna gives a tired greeting to the house, glad that his mom responds from the kitchen. He really doesn't want to explain the tear and blood stain in his shirt, even if his wounds disappeared 10 seconds after he got them. Oh hey, the steam cloud actually cleaned up the blood. There's still a tear though.

"Welcome back Tsu-kun! I'm making dinner, it'll be ready in about half an hour."

"Alright, thanks mom! I'll be in my room." After taking off his shoes, Tsuna walks up the stairs, keeping one hand on the wall to make sure he doesn't have a random balance check. Opening his door, he notes that his room is still just as cluttered as when he left.

'I really should get around to cleaning up.' Taking off his school clothes, Tsuna drapes his shirt over his swivel chair for now. Putting on more casual clothes of jeans and a white t-shirt with an orange 27 decal over the chest, Tsuna goes to put his backpack on a hanger, only to rethink it and drop it into one of his Inventory slots.

Grabbing his shirt, Tsuna practically collapses into his favorite chair ever. It's been...an exceedingly long day, even before you consider the random encounter, which Tsuna thinks he'll just repress for now. Opening one of the drawers in his desk, Tsuna moves aside the first aid kit and grabs the sewing kit he keeps in there for situations like this.

Actually, grabbing the first aid kit, Tsuna hits it with an Observe before dropping it into an inventory slot. Apparently he can use it to heal 50 HP. Not sure how exactly that works, but he's not gonna question that right now.

Opening up the sewing kit, Tsuna starts a process he's done a hundred times before. Unsurprisingly, he gets a skill for this. Surprisingly, it's not a Sewing skill.

 _Skill Created!_

 _You have created the Non-Combat Skill: Mending_

 _Mending lvl 1/100 (0/10)_

 _Description: To power to take something that's broken and fix it. Clothes? This can fix that. Armor? This can fix that. A broken marriage? Even then shown to be slightly better than most placebos. Higher levels increase how well something is mended._

 _+5 durability to objects Mending is used on._

 _Sub-Skills:_

 _Sewing lvl 1/50 (0/10 Exp)_

Huh. His very first Sub-Skill. Neat. Kinda disappointed that apparently all the work he's put into learning how to sew before this is ignored, but whatever. 10 minutes of careful hand-eye coordination later, Tsuna has more or less fixed the shirt, and Sewing has gained 10 Exp, putting it up to level 2. Oddly, Mending as a total skill only gained 5 Exp. Perhaps the exp rate for an overarching skill is only half that of it's respective sub-skills, like the Pendent? Though that leaves the question of why it has a lower level cap.

Well, whatever the reason is, Tsuna just wants today to be over. Pulling his backpack out of his inventory, Tsuna gets started on his homework for tonight. He actually manages to make some decent head-way in the 15 minutes before he has to go down for dinner. Must be the points in Int and Wis.

After a nice dinner of hamburgers - cue fist pump with accompanying comical +1 punch exp - and chatting with his mom about what a great day today has been, and Tsuna is off to his room to finish his homework.

'It really has been a good day. Crazy, really long, and absolutely exhausting yeah, but good.' And why wouldn't today be good? He's gotten slightly closer to Kyoko, things are looking up for him in class, and he's only going to get better as time goes on. Yes, life is good.

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

 **AN:** And that's a wrap for today, folks! Also a wrap on Day 1 in general. A few minor points for anyone curious: The Steam Mephit is from D&D, and I used D&D stats for it. For anybody who doesn't know why that's important let's point something out real quick. In D&D, most level 1 PC's (Player Characters) Only have about 15 Hp, and monsters follow a similar path, and all damage is scaled to directly match this. The Steam Mephit, for example, only has 6d6 health. this means it averages a HP of 21. It does 2d4 damage per hit, with an average of 3 or 4. Tsuna could sit still for 2 minutes and one-shot the thing no problem. Of course, these rules only follow the lower CR Random Encounters, and if Tsuna gets shit luck, he'll still be in danger. 4 CR 4 weretigers who are immune to any non-magical damage or any damage dealt by a weapon not made of silver is still a bit much for Tsuna. Actual people in the KHR world will also be much more difficult to fight. Anyways, next point: I hope you guys appreciate the amount of work I do to make sure everything is as close to accurate as I can make it. I spent three hours calculating exactly how many laps Tsuna could run with a 7 Dex and a slowly increasing Running skill in the time frame of half an hour. Oh, and on that note, for all you curious, I actually figure out his speed in terms of miles per hour first before converting to meters per second. The 'movement speed' number itself is actually his speed in miles per hour, so if you don't care about the metric measurements (if you're american like me) you can ignore the bit about m/s and just slap a mi/hr on the end of his 'speed'. The third thing I want to talk about is that fight with the imp. Originally, I was gonna have it be super realistic, complete with Tsuna snapping the things neck when he kills it, and I was gonna throw in this under-plot of dealing with the dark reality of being a pseudo-killer. Then I realised what was going on, put my inner angsty teen back under lock and key, and decided that as mature as this story might end up being, i'll strive to maintain the mostly light-hearted approach to things that KHR has. Also, I may or may not be a certified sociopath so I have no idea how people would normally deal with such a thing like guilt or remorse. Moving right along, i'm gonna cut things here, since my rambling is getting a bit out of hand again. Drat. Anyways, i'll catch you guys next time in Game of Flames, Chapter 4: Day 2!

Signed,

Phantom Drache


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Day 2 Part 1**

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Waking up, Tsuna jolts a little at the sight of a blue box hanging right in front of him, until he remembers the events of yesterday, and relaxes a little. Sitting up and stretching, he reads the box as he looks at the time. Really, 6 am sharp? That's just way too early in his opinion.

 _You have rested on a comfortable bed in safe territory._

 _You have regained 100% of your HP and 75% of your ?._

Tsuna closes the statement before stopping to think about what he read. Clearly the ability to max out his health with just a good night's rest is useful, but it's the last bit that catches his eyes. The question mark.

It's one of multiple things that he can't read in his status, though most of those are reputation gains, so they're probably people or groups of people. Thinking about it, Tsuna snaps his fingers as he places a metaphorical finger on what's been bugging him. The question mark takes the place where mana or magic would usually be in a video game. Does that mean he has magic?

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have partially discovered important information regarding The Game._

 _You're not completely correct in your assumption, but it's reasonably close._

 _Your Status has been updated with new information._

 _For complete accuracy, please obtain further information regarding the world around you._

"So, it's not magic?" well, judging by what the box said, it's close to magic, but not actually magic. Tsuna shrugs. He has two hours to burn before going to school, might as well check out his Status.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 205/205_

 _MP(?): 394/394_

 _Level: 5_

 _Exp: 85/300_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 8 (+1) = 9_

 _Dex: 10_

 _Con: 8_

 _Int: 10_

 _Wis: 10_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Free Points: 20_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills, +25% MP(?), +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with Mafia families allied to ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% MP(?), +50% Reputation gains with Mafia, +75% Reputation gains with ?, +? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed_

That confirms it. It's not magic, which causes Tsuna to pout a little, but it's something like magic, and that's awesome in it's own way. And apparently his two most mysterious titles increase his mana pool. Well, at least that's what he's going to call it until such a time as he discovered it's real name.

Hmm, now what to do with this knowledge? Tsuna briefly thinks over everything he knows about magic. He then realizes that it can mostly be summarized as: not a whole lot. He does know that there are different types of magic-users, and that they use magic in unique ways.

Onmyodo, which are basically Japanese mystical monks as far as Tsuna can recall, use paper to do magic things that usually involve ghosts. Tsuna doesn't like ghosts, so he never bothered to learn what exactly they do involving ghosts.

Besides Onmyodo there are Shamans, who also do stuff involving ghosts. Shamans however, use a ton of ghosts to do things, including animal ghosts, so Tsuna's not sure if that makes it better or worse. He thinks they also paint their bodies with plants and blood and stuff, and that sounds gross so That's as far as he's going to take that train of thought.

Then there are western Wizards. Or were they called Warlocks? He can never remember if there's a difference between the two or not. Either way, they tend to use sticks that come in either 'tiny' or 'huge' sizes and do things like shooting fireballs and calling down lightning.

That last one sounds awesome, but Tsuna isn't saure if the sticks they use are special, which might be a problem in replicating those powers. In the end, trying to think it through just causes his head to hurt, so he shrugs and decides to wing it. The Game will let him know if he's doing something wrong, probably.

Sitting with his legs hanging off of his bed,Tsuna holds one hand up, his palm facing the ceiling, and he focuses really hard on trying to make a fireball. the reason he's chosen a fireball is simply because that's the first spell he thought of when thinking of magic users.

For a solid thirty seconds, nothing happens, and Tsuna's about to give up when suddenly he feels an odd shifting sensation in his chest, and a tiny ball of flames appears in his palm.

"Wow!" the flame is tiny, barely the size of what you'd see on a small candle, but to Tsuna it might have been the second most beautiful thing in the world, the first being Kyoko-chan of course.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Congratulations! Due to using your MP(?) for the very first time, you have unlocked the Mana Affinity and Spells(?) sections of your Status._

 _Affinities are a measure of how attuned your Magic(?) is to certain elements. The higher your Affinity, the less MP(?) it takes to cast a Spell(?). An affinity can be raised by training Spells(?) of that Affinity to higher levels._

 _Please note that some of this information isn't 100% accurate, as you have yet to learn the full truth behind your abilities._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Affinity Unlocked: ? Flames: 100% ( ? Flame attribute Spells(?) will cost 50% the usual MP(?) to use)_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Spell(?) unlocked: Fireball(?)_

 _Fireball (Name not completely accurate) Level 1 (0%)_

 _A small ball of ? Flames. The very first technique people with the ? Flame affinity are taught. Can be thrown like a baseball or shot like a bullet, and will follow a straight line until it hits something or fades away. Current Range: 10m times (Int divided by 10): 10 meters. Current Damage: Spell(?) Level plus Int: 11. MP(?) cost: 10. 1% chance to inflict the ? Status effect._

Tsuna stares in awe at his small ball of fire. Sure, it did about as much damage as his fists, meaning there wasn't much use to it, but this was honest to kami magic. Or at least something close enough to count as magic, according to The Game.

He spends another minute just watching the flame flicker. He takes in all the little details of it, becoming more sure that it's magical in nature as the details don't quite match real fire.

For starters, instead of reddish orange leading into yellow, the entire thing is a smooth, bright orange. And instead of radiating heat it seems to radiate a sense of calmness, though Tsuna's not sure how that would actually work. Tsuna then decides to do something really stupid. Tilting his hand and pulling up his other, he tries throwing the ball from one hand to the other like a baseball.

 **-11 HP!**

 **Current HP: 194/205**

Biting his lip to try and stop himself from crying out, a few tears escape Tsuna's eyes as he cradles a now somewhat scorched hand. Trying to think through the pain, Tsuna mentally runs the numbers on how long it will take to heal his hand.

At one percent every 'tick' for lack of a better term, he heals 2 points every five seconds. That means it'll take six 'ticks' to fully recover, or thirty seconds. Patiently waiting for the next thirty seconds feels closer to trying to wait for half an hour to Tsuna.

Eventually though, the pain fades. First just a little as the first tick only recovers a tiny amount of health, but after another ten seconds he feels much better. By the time the final five second wait is upon him, the pain is more of a dull throb which then disappears.

 _'Note to self: Fire still hurts. Wow! Your genius is showing, Tsuna.'_ Taking a quick look, he finds that his new 'spell', for apparent lack of better terminology, has gained 6 exp, putting it at 60 percent to level 2.

Using his newfound 10 intelligence, Tsuna fairly quickly figures that it gains experience relative to the damage it deals. Minus the 50% decrease due to his titles, the eleven damage would equate to 6.5 experience. It would seem that it also rounds down, rather than up.

Taking a look at his clock, Tsuna sees that it's only six thirty, leaving him with over an hour before he has to leave for school. Deciding to use his time productively, he gets into his self-made stance for punching the air, and prepares to lose himself in the mindless exercise.

As he punches with his right arm, his mind starts to wander, as it tends to do. So far he's at 10 for all his stats except his 8/9 in strength and 8 in constitution. Given the fact that he has PE again today, the points in con shouldn't be too difficult to get, though the points in strength would be a bit more difficult.

His eye twitches as he gets the notification that Punch has gained one point experience as he punches with his left arm. Shaking his head, he gets back into the groove and lets his mind think of anything and nothing at the same time.

He thinks about his strange new power, and what it could mean. Does his dad have this power too? Is it connected to the mafia? If so, then that world is far more terrifying than he had thought.

Moving on, Tsuna ponders his new life in school. Just last week, he might have considered it a great day if Kyoko so much as looked in his direction, and the other students ignored his existence. Now Kyoko's eaten lunch with him, and his teachers are easing up on him.

Sure, the random noises and boxes that only he can hear and see are a bit off putting, as is the whole 'monsters will attack' thing, but it's almost a small price to pay for the sudden uptick his life has taken lately. It's only been twenty four hours and he's already almost twice as good as he had been before on all accounts.

As Tsuna continues with the repetitive motions, he slowly falls into a comfortable rhythm, and actually speeds up a little as he becomes more accustomed to the movements. After about eight minutes, he pauses slightly as he gets the notification the Punch has increased to level 5, giving him another point in Strength.

This puts him at 9 without the pendant, and 10 with it. Not knowing whether the Quest will count it, Tsuna decides to keep going as long as he can, to try and gt that next point.

With a rhythm of roughly one punch every three seconds or so - which involves Tsuna getting into position, throwing the punch, holding it for a second, then resetting his stance - Tsuna continues like this for another half hour.

When he stops, there's a light sheen of sweat on his skin, and his breathing is a little shallow and hurried. Even with his slower pace, he's still not used to extended activity. Deciding to take a quick shower to clean off the grime of working out as well as whatever's accumulated after the last day, Tsuna hops into the bathroom a few feet away from his room.

As he starts to heat the water, he looks at the fruits of his efforts. Half an hour of one punch every three seconds comes out to roughly six hundred punches, which at his current rate of experience gain is about three hundred experience points. That puts him at:

 _Punch LvL 6/100 (34%)_

 _+1 Str every 5th level (current bonus = 1)_

 _Base fist damage = Str + Punch Lvl = 9(+1) + 6 = 15 (16)._

A little less than what he had expected to gain after half an hours work, but he supposes that it would be ridiculous of him to gain several levels in less than an hours work when normally people spend weeks, months, or even years just to get marginal increases in ability. Of course, the stronger he gets, the harder it will be to get stronger.

Finishing up with his cleansing, Tsuna gets dressed in his school uniform and walks down the stairs to the kitchen right as his mother turns the corner to come and wake him up.

"Ah, up early again, Tsu-kun? I'm proud that you're improving so quickly. you're usually such a pain to wake up on time." Tsuna embarrassedly rubs the back of his head and chuckles. He can't really refute that.

"Y-Yeah. Well, I guess i'm just trying to make some good habits."

 _'Not like I can help it.'_ Of course, that second bit doesn't get said out loud.

Loving and a bit ditzy his mother might be, but Tsuna isn't willing to bet that her love for him would stop her from putting him in a loony bin if he told her that he was seeing and hearing things. Heck, her loving nature might make it seem more logical for her to do that, rather than impeding her.

Breakfast was a calm affair, as usual. With his possibly mafia father away it's just Tsuna and his mom. Thinking about it, Tsuna's not sure what to feel about his father, Iemitsu. The man had shown his face maybe half a dozen times in Tsuna's life, and the last he had heard, he had skipped town some two or three years ago.

The story his mother had told him had lead to Tsuna thinking that his father had died, but looking back on it, she was far too happy about it, and still spoke about him as though he was alive meaning Iemitsu had probably thought that the whole 'become a star' thing was 'romantic'.

Finishing up his breakfast, Tsuna puts on his shoes and pulls his backpack out of his inventory when his mother isn't looking. Making sure his necklace is still secure, he waves his mom goodbye before leaving the house and making his way towards school.

Starting to run, Tsuna tags everything in sight with Observe as he goes. Doing this results in less experience than the first time, likely because a lot of the people and inanimate objects like buildings and trash cans are the same. He still gains a full thousand experience to the skill for his troubles though.

Along the way, he hears the clatter of dice again. He freezes and tenses as he waits for the decision to determine whether or not he's fighting for his life this morning.

When nothing happens after a solid minute, he sighs in relief and continues on his path. Slowing down to a walk at the gate, he takes notice that his Running skill leveled up with the new 500 exp that his kilometer run has gained him. It's now at level 13 while Observe has been bumped up to 11.

Trying to once more appear as non interesting as possible to the disciplinary committee members, Tsuna slinks past them and to his classroom. OPening the door, he almost stumbles but his Balance skill apparently decides to be nice to him today, and he finds his footing pretty easily and gains 5 exp to that skill, bumping it to level 2.

Tsuna wonders if he should invest in a notebook to keep track of all these numbers, before facepalming as he remembers that he can pull up his Status to view all this information.

Kyoko walks into the room not too long later, with Hana on her tail. Kyoko waves at Tsuna who shyly waves back. Hana gives a mildly disdainful glance in his direction, and Tsuna has to hold himself back from flinching away. She may have warmed up a little to him, but that just means that she's no longer insulting him.

The first classes of the day start out pretty fun for Tsuna. the teachers still ask him a bit more questions than usual, but they seem pleased by his progress, and don't even get upset at him when he messes up now. Like that time he called a mitochondria the ribosome in science, but the teacher just shook his head instead of berating him.

Lunch was also great. Kyoko and Hana asked him to join them again, this time with a few of their other female friends, and while he could almost feel his reputation with the males in his class fall he wouldn't have said no if he had a heart attack. Lunch was actually spent trading cooking tips. He may not be particularly good at it due to him always being clumsy, but his mother liked to talk a lot and she was always cooking something or other.

By the time gym rolled around, he had gained 40 reputation with the females in his class, lost 35 with the males - and wasn't the sudden split between the two groups a surprise - and gained a whole 100 points with his teachers, which bumped them into Neutral territory. He also gained 25 reputation with both Kyoko and Hana to his surprise.

He supposes that not acting like an idiot or pervert is a good mark, though he wouldn't dream of acting like that to the girl of his dreams and her friends. He'd honestly rather commit seppuku. Shaking such dark thoughts from his head, Tsuna walks out onto the field with the rest of his class, now dressed for gym.

His teacher, Revy, still looks intimidating as ever. He could swear that when she smirks, her teeth look razor sharp and inhuman, not that he'd ever say that outloud. She looks up from her clipboard and gives one such smirk.

"Glad to see that you punks didn't decide to run away with your tails between your legs. Well, I hope you're prepared for today, since it won't be any easier. Today is side-hops followed by the high-jump. Everyone get on a line!"

 _*Ding!*_

 _Quest continuation:_

 _Be A Man! (Part 3)_

 _Description: I should have picked a different reference, seeing as i've already run out of lyrics. Oh well, you know what they say: Just Do It!_

 _Goal: complete at least 50 side-hops._

 _Reward: 5 Exp for each side hop as well as 10 exp for every hop beyond number 50._

 _Failure condition: Complete less than 50 side-hops in the alloted time._

 _Failure reward: 1 Exp for every side-hop completed._

Shouting her last line unexpectedly, Revy hurds the group of kids into a semblance of order, and blows her whistle. Like most of the others, Tsuna takes half a second, though not because he forgot they were doing something. He was actually accepting the new Quest, figuring that just like the last two, he had nothing to lose, and tons to gain. He then hops a little to the right, then a little to the left.

Getting into the groove, Tsuna puts his all into the next thirty minutes. After the whistle is blown, Tsuna comes to a sudden stop, failing the subsequent balance check, and falls to the ground, panting. He had a score of 61, which was more than required, and actually a little higher than the average of the others. Not enough for him to even be in the top 5, but a definite improvement from his previous ability.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have completed a Quest!_

 _Quest: Be A Man! (Part 3)_

 _Description: I should have picked a different reference, seeing as i've already run out of lyrics. Oh well, you know what they say: Just Do It!_

 _Goal: Complete 50 or more side-hops within the time limit. You completed (61)!_

 _Reward: (50*5) + (10*11) Exp : 360 Exp!_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Level Up!_

 _You are now Level : 6 (145/400 Exp)!_

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendant of Pride has gained 180 Exp!_

 _Pendant of Pride is now Level 6 (7%)_

 _Pendent of Pride now gives a +2 to your Strength._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Endurance has gained 180 Exp!_

 _Endurance is now Level 5 (92%)!_

 _Endurance now gives you a +1 to your Constitution_

 _*Ding!*_

 _New Quest!_

 _Be A Man! (Part 4)_

 _Description: You won't be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound just yet, but show off your leg muscles against your fellow normal high schoolers._

 _Goal: Get a score of at least 40 centimeters in your jump._

 _Reward: 200 Exp for completion, plus another 50 Exp if you go above 40 centimeters._

 _Failure conditions: Get a score of lower than 40 centimeters._

 _Failure Reward: 50 Exp._

There's quite a few boxes that pop up, so Tsuna spends most of the five minute break he's give scanning through those and closing them. He pauses at the latest Quest though. So far, judging by the score the others in his class were getting, the goal of the Quest was to do at least average.

If he remembers correctly though, the average score for a 20 year old male on the high jump is about 38 centimeters. Which means that the Quest wants him to do better than the average adult. It's also got a lower reward than the others. Tsuna runs out of time to ponder things as Revy blows her whistle again.

"Alright midgets, most of you did passably on the hops, now it's time for the jump. Because i'm getting bored of watching kids exercise, and because I don't have time for you all to do this multiple times, you only get one shot at this. There's a measuring stick on the end of this track which i'll be standing at to see how high you jump. Go in seat number order, or i'm going to put you through so much detention that you'll wish I had just shot you instead."

Tsuna gets in line according to his place - seat 18 for those curious, meaning he's close to the very last - and nervously bits the tip of his thumb nail. His mind bounces from thought to thought as he wonders how he's supposed to complete a mission that seems impossible. 'He just doesn't have the stats for this!' is what he's thinking.

Watching the others in front of him, he watches most kids fall between twenty five and thirty centimeters. He paces a little as his turn nears. Kyoko performs fairly normally at 27 cm, while Hana actually performs a little above average at 33 cm. Tsuna hopes that when he ultimately fails and exposes that he hasn't change that much, that they won't hate him too much.

This worrying continues and only grows as the people in front of him continue to go. Eventually, it's his turn, and Tsuna damn near starts to have a panic attack, he's worked himself up so much. He grabs onto the lion necklace, but that only helps so much.

"Oi, Sawada! Get your ass moving!" apparently he had spent so long panicking that the teacher had gotten tired of waiting, though given her rough personality, that could just mean he had spent longer than 2 seconds standing there.

Taking a deep breath, he decides that he has nothing to lose. Worst case scenario, he goes back to 'No-Good Tsuna'. That would sting, but he was at least used to people not expecting anything from him. So it's fine if he fails. At least this Quest wasn't reminding him of his mortality.

Leaning forward, Tsuna puts one foot in front of another, and takes off. Activating his Running skill, he feels his vision narrow down until it's just him and the ruler sticking out of the ground. He's ten meters away.

At eight meters he wonders why he was so worried in the first place. At seven, he decides that not caring feels so much better than being worried. At six, he almost stumbles as the panic comes back, but he pushes it down.

At five meters, he wonders how long it's been since he started running. Time has slowed down to a crawl, and each step feels like it's taking a full minute. How stupid he must look, running in slow motion.

At four meters he manages to regain his focus on the goal at hand. It's so close. No longer does he have time to worry about if's, and's, or but's. It's showtime.

At three meters, Tsuna's mind flashes back to the imp from yesterday. Even if he fails at this, he's already so different from what and who he used to be.

At two meters, Tsuna decides that no matter the result, he'll keep trying to push himself to improve. Nobody's perfect, except maybe Hibari or Kyoko. If he keeps trying, then eventually he'll no longer be referred to as 'no-good'.

At one meter, he looks between his feet and the measuring stick. Counting down mentally, he waits until the last second before letting his legs bend. Holding his breath as he goes down, he prays to the mysterious Drache that he doesn't disappoint.

He then breathes out as he rapidly extends his legs, lifting his body off the ground. For a fraction of a fraction of a second, his mind completely clears. He's no longer on a track field, jumping next to a stick that will tell him whether or not he failed his goal.

Instead, he's high up in the sky, looking down on Namimori. His cares and worries feel so far away, and instead he only feels a deep sense of calm. Of control, of harmony with the world around him.

Then his feet hit the ground, sliding to a rough stop, and everything snaps back into place. Blinking rapidly, Tsuna stands straight and looks back at his teacher.

Revy stares at him for a moment, her gaze unreadable, before she makes a note on her clipboard. Turning back to the stick, she shouts, causing him to jump.

"36 centimeters! Now get back with the class, Sawada." Mechanically, he shuffles along to follow her orders, Kyoko waving at him and smiling while Hana looks at him in mild surprise.

"Wow! That was so cool Sawada-kun. Thirty six is the best score so far!" Tsuna nervously chuckles before giving a strained smile.

"R-Really? M-m-must have been my lucky day, huh?" Hana scoffs before turning away.

"Idiot. If you're going to start doing better, at least take pride in what you do." Tsuna gives another awkward chuckle while Kyoko admonishes her friend.

He looks up at the sky, eyebrows furrowed. What was that feeling? It almost felt like when he used his fireball spell if several times stronger, but he hadn't even touched his magic, right? Tsuna shakes his head as he walks with the rest of the class back to the room after the last two people go. While walking he never notices several pairs of eyes watching his every move. 

**_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Day 2, Part 2**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

After gym was over, Tsuna Spent the rest of the day mildly distracted by the blue box in front of him.

 _Quest Failed._

 _Quest: Be A Man (Part 4)_

 _You failed to reach the goal for this quest._

 _Reward: 50 Exp._

 _Thankfully for you, failure of this Quest has not locked you out of the rest of it's subsequent missions. Please note that this will not always be the case, and more frequently than not it will be the opposite._

There was also a notice that his pendent had gained 25 exp, and Running had gained 100 exp, but Tsuna hadn't paid much attention to those. Part of him was glad that he at least earned something for his effort. Part of him was actually a little relieved, seeing that he was still no-good in at least one way. It was familiar, and comfortable, being incompetent.

There's something new in the equation though, something Tsuna's not used to feeling. He feels...angry, is a good way to put it. Angry at the quest for being unreasonable. Angry at himself for not completing it. Angry at the little voice in the back of his head saying that being a wimp is good enough. Angry at the fact that he's never felt this upset before.

In the end, Tsuna's very confused. He's not used to having emotions other than disappointment and what little joy he can gleam from his life. Deciding to deal with this irritation the same way he's dealt with most other negative emotions in his life, he bottles it up and pretends everything's fine. He'll just have to keep trying his best and hope that that's enough. It took all day, but he finally got a new notification that snapped him out of his funk.

 _*Ding!*_

 _For spending time paying attention and participating in class, your Intelligence and Wisdom have increased by 1._

A small smile forms on his face, as he remembers how close he is to finally clearing the quest to remove his 'No-Good' title. If nothing else, that will be proof that he isn't completely useless. As he packs his stuff, he gets interrupted by someone who isn't Kyoko or Hana.

"Yo, Sawada!" jolting in surprise, Tsuna looks up to see the one male in his class that doesn't hate him.

Very tall, black haired, brown eyed, kind to a fault, and very fit. Yamamoto Takeshi fits all the boxes for 'most popular boy' in Namimori High, despite it being only day two. Captain of the baseball team in middle school and pretty smart once he actually bothers to try in class, he outclasses Tsuna in nearly every way conceivable.

"A-Ah! Yamamoto-san! H-How can I help you?" The black haired boy laughs Tsuna's nervousness off as though he had told a funny joke.

"Well, I was super impressed by how well you did today! I wanted to congratulate you on your improvement, and ask if you wanted to join the baseball club." Tsuna rubs the back of his head while internally panicking.

"H-Haha, don't b-be silly Yamamoto-san. I'm nowhere near good enough yet to join the baseball team."

"Ah, don't be like that!" Yamamoto wraps one arm around Tsuna's shoulders, picking him up and leaning over the much smaller boy, a friendly smile on his face that causes Tsuna to feel warm and happy for some reason.

"Don't worry about stuff like that! Baseball's not about who's the best, it's all about that feeling in your gut! That 'badump badump' when you hit the ball and watch it go 'zoom' through the sky until it 'sparkles' into the distance!"

'I have no idea what the hell he just said.' A tiny sweatdrop trickles it's way down the back of Tsuna's head as he tries to make sense of the sounds his classmate just made.

Also, he's not sure if it's Yamamoto's natural charisma or something else, but a small warm feeling appears in Tsuna's chest. It vaguely reminds him of how he feels when he's around his mom, only it's...more. It's really hard for Tsuna to try and put words to it, even in his own head.

The warmth of Yamamoto's hand on his shoulder, the calm feeling that washes over him when he see's that open and inviting smile, and the small pang of longing that makes his heart skip a beat.

'Hold on a minute! Am...am I bi?"

All of a sudden, Tsuna snaps out of the fog-like state he'd fallen into and his eyes widen a little as his brain stops for a second. Completely unaware that he's now made his classmate question his sexuality, Yamamoto eventually releases Tsuna.

"Well, at least give it some time to think it over, okay? Even if you say no, i'm sure we'll be great friends, Tsuna! Is it cool if I call you Tsuna? You can call me Takeshi." Without giving Tsuna a chance to recover mentally and respond, Yamamoto gives a laugh and walks off, waving at Tsuna as he does.

Deciding he has a LOT of thinking to do tonight, Tsuna mechanically gathers his stuff and starts to head home. Once more, he doesn't really have anyone close enough to him that would want to walk with him, so he goes alone. He doesn't mind though. Usually he would bury the small feeling of loneliness that would show up every day at this time, but he's too distracted today.

Deciding to keep up his usual routine, he starts to pick up speed and starts to run home, while absent mindedly throwing out an Observe every few steps. Due to his distraction, he hits maybe half as many new targets with the move compared to this morning.

Halfway home, like the last three times, there's a loud clatter in his head that he almost misses due to his deep thoughts. A loud buzz definitely catches his attention though, as once more the world freezes and starts to shatter like glass.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Welcome once more to the Random Encounter ID!_

 _Since this is your second time, and you should know the rules by now, i've removed the handicap on the system. I'm sure you can handle it though._

 _Now, let's see your opponent today!_

Preparing himself for anything, Tsuna gets into what he's taken to calling his 'bunny' stance, where his fists are up and ready, but he's more than ready to jump to either side to dodge an attack. He's a little nervous when two holes start to appear instead of one this time, though.

Starting at about half a meter off the ground, a pair of large cracks appear in the air. Slowly, piece of the 'air' starts to break away and crumble into nothingness. Slowly expanding, the holes stop at about half a meter wide, and out hops a pair of four legged canines covered in fur, one black and the other a light grey. When they land, they reach almost three quarters of a meter tall at the shoulders.

 _*Ding!*_

 _A pair of wolves, both a CR of 1/4. Not too bad. You must be feeling lucky, eh?_

 _The fight will begin in 10._

 _9._

Hitting the wolves with an observe really quickly, Tsuna notices they look identical and dismisses one window. Two more windows pop up, immediately telling him that according to Sense Danger, these wolves mean business. The other reads as such:

 _Wolf (Black)_

 _CR: 1/4_

 _Description: It's a wolf. Nothing much to it. It's fast, it's bite hurts like a bitch, and they tend to hunt in packs. If you don't know at least that much, you might want to think about getting professional help._

'Well screw you too. Okay, let's think here, Tsuna. They're probably faster than you, so dodging will be almost out of the question. They'll also probably try to bite me if they get close, meaning I should try to keep my distance. Good thing I just learned a ranged attack this morning.'

Normally Tsuna would never think of fighting back, especially against things as scary as wolves, but at the moment his brain is so frazzled that the tiny voice of logic and reasoning that normally stays silent at the back of his head has taken direct control for now. Taking a deep breath in and out, the timer hits zero, and once more music starts playing in the background. This time, Tsuna blinks in surprise as The Invisible Wall by the GazettE starts to play.

In the half a second that his eyes are closed, the wolves have already traveled half the distance between them, knocking Tsuna back into full awareness and scaring him. Letting out a high pitched squeal that actually makes the dogs pause for half a step in surprise themselves, Tsuna throws himself backwards and calls up his new skill: Fire Ball.

Throwing the attack as quickly as he can, Tsuna's hopes for this fight ending quickly are dashed as both wolves easily move out of the way of his poorly aimed attack, and continue to advance rapidly. The grey wolf moves to Tsuna's right, while the black wolf goes to his left.

Trying to move his attention between the wolves proves detrimental when the grey wolf takes advantage of him looking at the black wolf to lunge at him. Feeling the wolves teeth sink into his leg, Tsuna cries out in both surprise and pain.

 **-5 HP**

 **You are now at 225/230 HP**

Tsuna's trouble doesn't stop there, as the black wolf joins in on this attack, lunging for Tsuna's throat. Not taking any chances that his new abilities would let him survive a torn out throat, Tsuna pushes through the pain and raises his right arm between him and almost certain death, grimacing as another 8 damage is shaved off his health, dropping him to 217.

Holding up one hand, Tsuna calls up his Fire Ball once more. This time, instead of launching it, he curls up his hand and punches the wolf through the fire, his now burning fist crashing right into it's rib cage.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have created a new Spell(?)!_

 _Flame Punch(?) Level 1 (0/10 Exp)_

 _By combining the (?) flames of Fire Ball(?) and your natural strength with Punch, you can now cloak your hand in (?) flames to deal extra damage. Be aware that this move will also harm you unless you gain resistance to fire based damage._

 _MP(?) Cost: 25_

 _Range: N/A_

 _Deals Punch damage plus Fire Ball(?) damage, divided by two to enemy. Current: 14(15)_

 _Deals Punch damage plus Fire Ball(?) damage, divided by 4 to self. Current: 7_

With a loud meaty thud, the sound of sizzling flesh and fur, and a short yelp from the wolf, Tsuna manages to deal enough damage in one go so that when the black wolf hits the ground, it starts disappearing into sparkly dust rather than get back up.

Seeing what happened to it's companion, the grey wolf let's go of Tsuna before he can regain his wits and try doing he same thing to it. Biting his lip to keep focus on the moment, Tsuna takes the moment reprieve to check his health on the latest box. 204. The entire interaction had just barely lasted 5 seconds, and already he was down nearly 30 points.

His pants and shirt were both now in desperate need of repair and cleaning. While the wounds themselves are going to slowly close up thanks to his regeneration, that doesn't get rid of the blood and holes now in them. He really needs to start keeping a set of clothes in his inventory that he can easily change into and out of for fights.

But that's neither here nor there. Right now, he still has another wolf to worry about, and frankly, he'd rather not have to take more damage in order to knock this one out. Taking a look at it, he takes stock of his situation.

The wolf must be wary of him now, seeing as it's just slowly circling him instead of attacking. Slowly shuffling his feet to keep his eyes on the beast, and spurred on by yet another notification that the wolf is seriously trying to hurt him, courtesy of Sense Danger, he tries to think of a plan.

'It's too fast to hit with my fire ball. There's also no way I can get close enough to hit it with a regular punch. I'd rather not let it bite me again, and I can't spam my fire punch without being sure that i'll hit it. Think Tsuna, think! If I can't hit it at range, and it's too fast on the ground to get close enough to, what can I do?! When is it vulnerable?'

Unbidden, a memory flashes through Tsuna's mind at that moment. When the black wolf lunged at him, all four feet left the ground when it pounced. It then moved in a straight line right for his throat. That's it!

'When it jumps, it can't dodge! But...I can't dodge fast enough either. I don't want to get bitten again, so I can't just take it either. If i'm not fast enough to dodge the attack, i'm also probably not fast enough to punch it out of the air. That eliminates two of my three attacks. All that's left...'

Apparently getting impatient with the stalemate, the grey wolf growls and starts to rapidly circle Tsuna. Trying to keep up, Tsuna stumbles a little while turning. Taking the opportunity presented, the wolf lunges forward once more.

This time, instead of panicking, Tsuna reacts quickly and calmly. Raising his right hand in front of him, he calls forth another Fire Ball. Now the wolf has a palm sized ball of flame between it's mouth and it's target, but due to it being off the ground, there's no way for it to dodge when said flame launches itself right down it's throat.

 ** _Critical hit!_**

 ** _You dealt 26 damage!_**

The next second plays in slow motion from Tsuna's perspective. The widening eyes of the wolf as it tries to close its mouth. The light of the flame illuminating the dark cavern that was about to be wrapped around his own throat. The sound of something rapidly expanding. The sight of the wolf's stomach swelling to comical proportions, and finally, the entire wolf exploding in a shower of magical dust.

As a series of blue boxes appear, and reality slowly resets itself, Tsuna collapses to his knees panting. He wasn't particularly tired, nor were his injuries that bad, but he was emotionally drained. The fight against the mephit was intense, but this was the closest Tsuna's come to being mortally wounded.

Additionally, it's much easier to not take these 'random encounters' seriously when they use made up creatures. Wolves are real though, and really dangerous. After taking a minute to recover his breath, Tsuna rises to his feet and starts jogging home once more, this time going through his notifications.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have completed a random encounter!_

 _For defeating two wolves, you have earned 100 Exp._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendant of Pride has earned 50 Exp._

 _*Ding!*_

 _For use in battle, the Spells(?) Fire Ball(?) and Fire Punch(?), as well as the Skill Sense Danger have gained experience._

 _For hitting one target, Fire Ball(?) has gained 25 Exp._

 _For hitting one target, Fire Punch(?) has gained 25 Exp._

 _For registering the intent to harm three times, Sense Danger has gained 75 Exp._

 _For withstanding multiple attacks without flinching, you have created the Combat Skill: Physical Resistance._

 _Physical Resistance Level 1 (0 exp)_

 _-Reduces all damage taken from physical attacks by 1% per Skill Level._

Slowing from a jog to a walk at his door, Tsuna pauses for a moment before shrugging. His mother probably wouldn't notice if his shirt was messed up unless he came home literally drenched in blood. He loves his mother to death, but she was a bit of an air head.

"I'm home." Getting a general greeting from his mom, as well as a shout that tonight's dinner would be curry, Tsuna trudges up the stairs to his room.

Flopping into his chair, Tsuna begins to think over the day. What a roller coaster it had been. First he was happy that he was improving academically, then he was upset that he couldn't complete that Quest, then he nearly had a heart attack when Yamamoto - and he'd be caught dead before calling him Takeshi - talked to him and invited him to the baseball team. After that, he had to fight for his life against literal wolves.

Not to mention he hasn't had time yet to unpack all of his emotional confusion. He's like 80% sure he's not into guys, but if that's true, then what was that feeling he got when Yamamoto smiled at him. It felt like the first sip of milk after a hot bath. Like going for a swim on a hot day.

Thinking about it, Tsuna decides the best way to deal with things would be to think about Yamamoto and Kyoko, and compare how they make him feel. Closings his eyes, he focuses as much as he can.

Kyoko. A warm breeze. A flower in the middle of a field. Butterflies in the stomach, and a fire in the heart. The feeling that there might be someone out there who actually cares. A smile. Yamamoto. Tranquility. A glass of cool milk after a hot bath. Going for a swim on a warm day. The feeling of family. The rain.

"Gahh, why does this have to be so hard?!" Tsuna rubs the sides of his head, shaking it as well to try and knock something together in his head that might help him understand what's going on up there.

Certainly the feeling he get's when he thinks about Yamamoto isn't the same feeling as what he gets when he looks at Kyoko, but calling it 'lesser' somehow feels wrong. Like trying to say that the love he feels for his mom is less important than the love he feels for Kyoko. Tsuna pauses for half a second as a metaphorical light bulb lights up over his head.

'Family. That's what he feels like. He feels like he's a part of my family that I haven't seen in a while. But why? I barely know the guy, not to mention I just met him. Is this the fault of the Game? Nothing's been the same since it showed up, and honestly there's nothing it can do or say anymore that can surprise me.'

When no blue boxes appear, Tsuna sighs in a mix of irritation and resignation. Who knows what the heck is going on, but at least he's somewhat closer to an answer, even if that answer doesn't make sense yet. Deciding to focus on something else, Tsuna mutters a few words, and pulls up all of his current screens.

* * *

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 230/230_

 _MP(?): 437/437_

 _Level: 6_

 _Exp: 305/400_

 _Money: 0_

 _Str: 9 (+2) = 11_

 _Dex: 10_

 _Con: 9_

 _Int: 11_

 _Wis: 11_

 _Cha: 10_

 _Free Points: 25_

 _Titles:_

 _Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills, +25% MP(?), +25% Reputation gains with ?, +10% reputation with Mafia families allied to ?_

 _Descendant of ?: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% MP(?), +50% Reputation gains with Mafia, +75% Reputation gains with ?, +? ?_

 _Mama's boy: +25% Reputation gains with females, +25% Experience gains with Non-Combat Skills, +5 Cha_

 _No-Good: -25% all Experience gains_

 _? ?: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? ? ? ? without aid until Title is removed_

* * *

 _Skill List:_

 _***Combat Skills***_

 _Punch LvL 6/100 (110/300 Exp or 34%)_

 _+1 Str every 5th level (current bonus = 1)._

 _+Base fist damage = Str plus Punch Level, current Dmg = 9(+2)+6 = 15(17). Active._

 _Sense Danger Lvl 6/100 (65/300)_

 _Range: 6 meters. Passive_

 _Dodge Lvl 1/100 (0/10 Exp)_

 _+10% movement speed when dodging. Passive._

 _Physical Resistance Lvl 1 (0/10 Exp)_

 _-Reduces physical damage by 1% per level. Passive._

 _? ? Lvl MAX_

 _-?_

 _***Non-Combat Skills***_

 _Observe Lvl 11/100 (780/800 Exp)_

 _\- Tells the user the name, level, and general description of the target. Active._

 _-Targets 31 levels or higher than you will not give any information._

 _Balance Lvl 2/100 (0/25 Exp)_

 _+1% to Balance checks per level. Passive._

 _Quick-talk Lvl 1/100 (5/10 Exp)_

 _+1% chance per level to talk your way out of trouble. Passive._

 _Running lvl 13/100 (750/1000 exp)_

 _+Raises Movement Speed by 1.47 times Dex, Current bonus = 10*1.47 = 14.7, translates to roughly 6.5 meters per second._

 _+1 Dex every 5 levels (Current boost = 2)_

 _Endurance Lvl 6/100 (10/300 Exp)_

 _+1 Con every 5 levels (Current boost = 1)_

 _Mending Lvl 1/100 (5/10 Exp)_

 _+5 durability to target object._

 _Sub-Skills:_

 _Sewing Lvl 2/50 (0/20 Exp)_

* * *

 _Affinities:_

 _? Flame: 100%_

* * *

 _Spell (?) List:_

 _Fire Ball(?) Level 3 (17/30 Exp or 10%)_

 _-Range: 10 x int/10 : 11 m_

 _-Damage: Int + Skill Level: 11 + 3 : 14_

 _-MP(?) Cost: 10_

 _1% chance to cause the ? Status Effect._

 _Fire Punch(?) Level 2 (15/20 Exp)_

 _-MP(?) Cost: 25_

 _-Deals Punch + Fire Ball(?) divided by 2 to enemy. Current: {15(17) + 14} / 2 : 15(16)_

 _-Deals Punch + Fire Ball(?) divided by 4 to self. Current: {15(17) + 14} / 4 : 7(8)_

* * *

 _Quest List:_

 _-Finish tutorial (Complete)_

 _-Remove your No-good Title! (On-going)_

 _-Remove Title ? ? (On-going)_

 _-Get To School! (Repeat, Daily, completed 2/180 times)_

 _-Be a Man! (4 of 6 Complete) [3 of 4 Successfully Completed]_

* * *

 _Reputation_

 _Individuals:_

 _Nana Sawada (Mother): Loved: 770/1000_

 _Iemitsu Sawada (Father): Loved: 500/1000_

 _Timoteo (?): Liked: 500/1000_

 _Kyoko Sasagawa (Classmate): Liked: 295/1000_

 _Hana Kurokawa (Classmate): Neutral: 870/1000_

 _Takeshi Yamamoto (Classmate): Neutral: 750/1000_

 _Kensuke Mochida (Fellow Student): Disliked: 810/1000_

 _Hibari Kyoya (Fellow Student): Neutral: 510/1000_

 _Nezu Dohachiro (Teacher): Hated: 345/1000_

 _Groups_

 _?: Neutral: 900/1000_

 _Mafia families allied with ?: Neutral: 500/1000_

 _Fellow Students : Neutral : 460/1000_

 _Teachers: Neutral: 45/1000_

 _Classmates (Female): Disliked: 835/1000_

 _Classmates (Male): Disliked: 760/1000_

* * *

 _Inventory:_

 _Slot 1: Bottle of Water X4 (+5 Hp/?)_

 _Slot 2: Backpack (full of school supplies)_

 _Slot 3: First Aid kit (+50 Hp)_

 _Slot 4:_

 _Slot 5:_

 _Slot 6:_

 _Slot 7:_

 _Slot 8:_

 _Slot 9:_

 _Slot 10:_

* * *

 _Equipment:_

 _+Pendant of Pride Lvl 6/100 (97/300 Exp) (+2 Str, +1 for every 5 levels)_

 _+School Clothes (Cosmetic, 75/100 Durability)_

* * *

Whistling a little, Tsuna ponders what his next move should be. He had also totally forgotten about his daily quest this morning. He must have auto-piloted and closed it without thinking about it. Either way, it was rapidly looking like it wouldn't actually help him in terms of experience until he fully completed it.

Already, at level 6, ten experience was basically nothing. If memory serves though, it was offering exp in the thousands, meaning once he finishes that up it should be a huge boost.

Back on track, he looks at all of his stats and skills. He's coming along much better than he was just forty eight hours ago. He had gained 5 levels, gained a ton of skills, and nearly doubled his stats. Speaking of, he still has 25 free points, and he only needs one point in Strength and one in Constitution before he'll get rid of 'No-Good'.

He can't remember the math at this exact moment, but since it's reducing all exp gains by twenty five percent, getting rid of it will certainly make things much faster in terms of levelling things up. The only issue, is should he spend the time slowly levelling up Punch and Endurance, or should he just put two points into his stats now and get it over with?

Judging by how it's been gaining experience so far, Punch will take about two and a half hours to get to level ten. Endurance is harder to gauge. Everything physical he does seems to increase it, but at a rather slow rate. That will probably take about as long to level up to ten, meaning Tsuna would have to spend approximately five hours to manually boost his stats.

If he were to do it with points, it would make things harder to increase later on. If one hour of physical exercise increased Str from five to six, and another two hours increased it by another point, then to get from nine to ten would take about...sixteen hours, during which he'd probably also increase constitution from continuous exercise.

If he used a point now, he could save the five hours of skill grinding or ten hours of pure working out, but he'd increase the 'manual' time of his stats to a grand total of thirty two hours for the next point, which is almost a day and a half of dedicated time which would probably take him four or five actual days to get to.

So. Five hours of work, versus potentially literal days of work later? Decisions, decisions. Spinning in his chair for a moment out of a sheer lack of desire to do anything, Tsuna decides to stall even longer by changing into some more casual clothes and fixing up his uniform.

Taking the sewing kit out of his desk once more, Tsuna tallies up the damage. Two bite marks, both consisting of multiple small holes, blood starting to stain the edges and a little singed material of the cuff of his left sleeve from his fire punch. He should invest in fire-proof clothing if he's going to be using skills like that more frequently.

Sighing, he spends the next hour meticulously fixing up his uniform. He ends up gaining a total of 50 exp for his Sewing Skill skill and another 25 for Mending, levelling them both up. Throwing his clothes into the washing machine in the upstairs bathroom, Tsuna sets a timer on his phone for an hour to move them over to the dryer. Looking at a clock, he has another hour and a half before dinner, and he only has a little homework to do tonight. Deciding to continue to stall, he pulls his backpack out of his inventory and starts in on said homework.

With his mental skills rapidly increasing, it takes a fraction of the time it usual would, meaning he finished everything up maybe fifteen minutes before his timer for the washer goes off. Twiddling his thumbs metaphorically, Tsuna wonders why he's suddenly not in the mood. Over the last two days he's practically chomped at the bit to up his stats and skills, but now he's hesitating. Why?

Tsuna knows the answer, but he just doesn't want to think about it. If he starts thinking about it, he'll have to deal with it, and the emotional baggage it carries. In short, the reason he's stalling is because if he get's rid of his title as 'No-Good Tsuna', then who is he? He's not super smart, he's not exceptionally fit, he can't play an instrument, he's not funny, he's not popular, he doesn't have anything going for him that sets him apart from the hundreds of other students at school. He has no individuality.

Granted, he knows he's being ridiculous. Of course he won't just fade out of existence just because he stops being 'No-Good'. He's just so used to it that it's hard imagining life without that title constantly weighing him down. It's been that way longer than Tsuna can remember.

Sighing, Tsuna stands up and figures he's spent enough time procrastinating. Think of it this way - he says to himself - if you're better, then Kyoko might notice you more, and you might even get good enough to not embarrass Yamamoto who asked you to join baseball. It'll be fun, he halfheartedly mutters.

Getting into position, he spends the next ten minutes punching the air. It's not enough to get a level up but he's now making progress, and he won't let himself chicken out halfway through something like this. Switching his laundry over, he heads back to his room and spends the half-hour he has until dinner punching the air, trying to keep his mind clear.

'Think of the sky. Clear, blue, open. Calm. Harmony.' Falling into a state of almost trance-like focus, Tsuna almost misses his mom calling for dinner.

Surprisingly, after that half hour of light exertion, he feels almost more well rested. Unknown to Tsuna, as he comes out of his trance, a slight flicker of orange fire fades in and out of existence for half a second. With everything on his mind, it's not really a surprise that he could barely pay attention to his mom or dinner.

After making small talk for a while, and talking about how he was starting to do better in school - which earned a big hug from his mom - Tsuna makes his way back upstairs. His clothes had finished up in the dryer, so Tsuna pulls them out and slips his uniform into his inventory, and when he thinks about it, he also slips a pair of jeans and a black tee in as well. That'll be his outfit for when a fight starts in the middle of the street. He's not entirely sure how he'd manage it when the Game gives him a new notification.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have unlocked the Outfit Section of The Game._

 _Don't worry, this won't suddenly become a dress-up game or anything like that. The Outfit Section is simply a way for The Game to respond to your wishes faster. For simplicity's sake, when you put an article of clothing into an Inventory slot and say 'Combat', the article will disappear. Then, when you say 'Combat Outfit' in the real world, or mentally trigger your Combat Outfit, your current clothing will be replaced with said articles. You can have as many Outfits as you want, though be careful not to set them to any common phrases, else people might question how you can change clothes in the span of less than a second._

Deciding that he's too tired of the Game's bullshit to question this, Tsuna takes a minute to go through and set his school uniform as an outfit, as well as a set of casual clothing and clothes he'll wear when a Random Encounter happens.

Shaking his head, he sets himself back into position, and decides that if he's going to focus on punching, he might as well focus only on it. He then spends the next few hours punching the air. He may or may not have underestimated how long it would take to level Punch all the way up to level 10, seeing as it takes about four hours to get that last point of experience, during which Endurance also levels up a few though not to ten.

He could probably have done that faster if he went through the motions faster, though for some reason going through the whole process of getting in position, punching, holding, resetting, and mirroring the punch with his other hand...it all seems very relaxing.

Well, it's now almost ten thirty at night and Tsuna still has school in the morning. Plus his new personal alarm clock which won't let him sleep past six in the morning. He can worry about topping off his endurance in the morning.

As Tsuna winds down, takes a quick shower to clean off the smell and feel of sweat, and lays down, he can't help but sigh in irritation once more. He's not sure whether he should be really happy or really upset that The Game was thrust upon him by that Drache guy. Sure, life is now a hundred times more interesting, but life is also a hundred times more intense and dangerous. What happens if there are other people with incredible powers out there? And what's the deal with all the mafia connections Iemitsu apparently has?

Tsuna slowly falls asleep, thoughts like these swarming his head. Eventually, Morpheus takes him unto his domain, and Tsuna snores away at the night. Unknown to him, several factors are starting to move into place. Factors that will turn his already upside down life inside out and backwards before exploding it with TNT and watching the dust settle with a violent grin on its face.

Outside the front gate of the Sawada home, a tiny figure wearing a hat stands on a suitcase and slips a piece of paper into the mailbox. It hops down and starts to walk away, dragging the suitcase along with it and displaying surprising strength. This figure goes unnoticed by the slumbering Tsuna, though the opposite can not be said to be true for another figure. This one leans a foot against the edge of a roof and glares down at the house, almost giving away his position due to the sheer bloodlust emanating off them.

"Foooouuuund yooouuuu."

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Day 3, Part 1**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Waking up, Tsuna barely even notices the by now normal morning message from the Game. Yes, yes, he slept in a bed and is all fixed up. Disregarding the fact that he's yet to dip below two hundred HP, it's at least good to know that if he's ever on the verge of death he's only a good night's rest away from full health.

Another thing he's noticed is that he hasn't been having any dreams lately. Not as in "no nightmares" but as in he literally hasn't had any dreams since the Game became part of his life. A little creepy, but at least he didn't have to worry about waking up in a cold sweat thanks to demonic chihuahuas chasing him any more. Don't ask.

Stretching his arms and legs out, Tsuna ponders his plans for this morning. He only needs one point in constitution before he'll be all evened out. Problem is: he has no idea how to go about that. The only points he's gotten for constitution before have come from quests and doing intense physical exercise for a long period of time.

Tsuna pauses for a moment before facepalming. Mentally deciding he needs to put more point towards intelligence when he has the time, Tsuna goes to his closet and pull out a basic shirt and running pants and slips into them. He also rummages through his desk and throws his sewing kit into his inventory. Carefully tiptoeing down the stairs doesn't give him a Stealth skill, though it does nearly give him a heart attack when one of the steps creaks rather loudly. Thankfully, it would seem that his mom is sleeping quite soundly this morning.

Sneaking out of the house, Tsuna carefully opens and closes the gate before stretching his legs once more to mentally prepare himself. He then starts jogging, no particular destination in mind. He wonders how long he has to run to get that point in constitution. One hour? Two? Sixteen?

About thirty five minutes later, Tsuna hears that wonderful ding, and nearly collapses into a nearby light pole. Sure he was getting better, but by Kami it was still exhausting.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Due to continuous activity, you have gained 1 point in constitution. You now have 10 points in Constitution._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Due to clearing all requirements, you have successfully removed the Title 'No-Good'._

 _All negative side-effects relating to this Title have been removed._

"Oh thank Kami. I was worried it would take more time than I have. Now let's see. Where the heck am I?" looking about, Tsuna starts to shake a little as he realises that he has absolutely no clue where he is.

Biting his thumb for a moment, Tsuna almost facepalms as he remembers the phone in his pocket. Pulling it out, Tsuna quickly unlocks it and pulls up the map app. His mom was a bit hesitant to get him a smartphone given his proclivity to break things, but Tsuna had begged and pleaded with her until she got one. It has a life-time warranty and is idiot proofed to hell and back, just to be safe.

Marking his current location and looking over the route back home, Tsuna begins to pick up speed and starts jogging back home. He had apparently made a couple turns that added distance and time over all, meaning that going in a straight line would take about twenty minutes as opposed to half an hour.

Ending up in front if his home gate, Tsuna checks the time. It's only seven in the morning, meaning he has another hour before he has to leave for school. Plenty of time to take a shower and mentally prepare himself.

Opening the door as carefully as he can, Tsuna tip-toes up the stairs and into his room. Closing the door ever so gently, Tsuna holds his breath before hearing a yawn come from across the hallway, and the padding of his mom as she goes down the stairs.

"I wonder what Tsu-kun would like for breakfast when he gets up?" breathing in relief, Tsuna turns around only to almost jump into the air when a blue box appears.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Salutations, Tsuna! It's your dear old pal Phantomdrache here._

 _Now, I know that you most probably weren't expecting me to pop up again, and to play into the whole "all seeing but non-helpful" kind of god that you're used to._

 _Bollocks to that I say. Bollocks!_

 _Anyways, onto the reason i've contacted you again: You're going to get a visit from someone who's very important to this tenuous narrative you call Life. Your life in particular will be affected by this visit._

 _Now, not to spoil the fun for you or anything - seeing as this whole shindig would hardly be any fun to watch if i'm holding your hand this whole time - but as a fair warning: trust the one called Reborn._

 _If you're as smart as I hope you'll become, you'll understand why I needed to give you this warning here in about...I wanna say thirty minutes? Yeah that sounds right._

 _Anyways, that's about it. Don't panic, and trust Reborn. That's about all that needs to be said at this point in time. I'll be back if you ever need assistance, but if you know what's best for you you won't try to abuse that fact._

 ** _Or else._**

 _Have a nice day at school!_

Tsuna stares at the box for a few minutes, sweating a little as he reads it over and over again, mouthing 'what the fuck?' to himself. Most of this note made little sense.

Reborn? Thirty minutes? And that threat at the end, complete with being in bold letters? A marked difference from his earlier, cheerful and friendly notes to be sure.

Shaking his head Tsuna decides to take this advice, though warily. So far this mysterious figure had yet to lie to him. Throw him into completely unnecessary situations and made his life much harder yes, but he's yet to lie to Tsuna.

Throwing his workout clothes into a hamper to be cleaned, Tsuna throws on some basic clothing as well as slapping a towel over his shoulder. Walking out of his door he does his best 'I just woke up' voice, calling out a greeting to his mom downstairs before entering the bathroom.

Twenty minutes and a nice hot shower later, Tsuna walks down stairs wearing his school uniform. The damp from the shower slicks his hair down a little, but given his luck it would be back to it's normal gravity-defying state before he made his way to school.

"Morning Tsu-kun! Breakfast is pancakes and bacon today." giving his mom a big smile, Tsuna gives her a quick hug before moving to the table.

"Thanks, kaa-san." beaming at her son, Nana turns back to the oven for a moment before turning back around, pulling a letter out from her pocket in the process.

"Oh, that reminds me! I found this most interesting letter in the mail this morning." With sinking heart, Tsuna opens it up and reads the words written within, his mind flashing back to the warning he got earlier.

We can make your child a future world leader!

For a limited time only, you can hire a world renowned home tutor from the Vongola Corporation.

Mathematics, Science, Classical Literature, Etiquette, and even Physical Education! Our tutors can do it all!

If you call today, the tutor will devote every moment of every day to developing your child for as long as it takes for them to become the leader they were meant to be, and the only cost is food and board!

Call now at 185-141-2015!

If Tsuna was apprehensive before reading this note, he was straight up confused afterwards. Vongola Corporation? He'd never heard of any company named 'Vongola', let alone a tutor company supposedly world famous.

Is this what the being behind the boxes had meant earlier? Is this 'Reborn' character the person who's going to tutor him? If so, why did they have to do so in the shadiest way possible? Hell, the letter looks handwritten, as opposed to a formal pamphlet that one would expect to come from some big-shot company.

"It sounds interesting, so I already gave them a call!" Tsuna's train of thought comes to a screeching halt.

"What?"

"Yeah! they said somebody called Reborn would be coming by. In fact, they should be here any moment now." Forget coming to a halt, the metaphorical train has slipped off the rails and started tumbling end over end.

Before Tsuna's brain can reboot and formulate a proper response to this new information, a ring at the door pulls his mother away with a 'oh that must be them now'. Setting the note down, Tsuna calmly brings his hands up to cover his face. Breathing in, Tsuna groans deeply into his palms before dragging them down his face and nearly face planting into his breakfast.

Deciding to face the judge, so to speak, tsuna stands up with a very detailed plan in mind. He'll say hello to Reborn, he'll shake their hand firmly but politely, he'll hit them with an observe so he has a general feel for them, and he'll do his best to not let this ruin his day.

"Tsu-kun, come say hello to your tutor!" This plan of course gets thrown out the window when he stands up and turns around to greet said tutor.

"Huh?"

Standing before Tsuna is what can only generously be described as an infant in a suit. A very nice suit, clearly tailored to fit the tiny form of the individual before him, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it is in fact on a baby. A baby about half a meter - maybe about 35 to 45 centimeters - tall, with a comically large head, comically curly sideburns, comically large black eyes, a fedora with an orange stripe on it, and what would appear to be a green lizard of some sort on the brim of said hat. the worst part of all this is that Tsuna throws an Observe at the infant out of reflex.

* * *

 **Name: Ṳ̷͕͍͖͕̉̌͗̀̀̈́̅̊̚ͅN̶͇͙̺̏̔̈́͂͐͘͝K̸̼͇̙̦͛͛̐̓͑͆̅̀͘͘͝Ņ̴̼̦͈̘̪͐̊͗̐Ơ̵̢̹̰̦̇̈̍̄̀̿̑̊̀̈̏̚W̷̨̘̯͖͚͓̱̅̎N̷̳̟͝ͅ**

 **Age: Ụ̶͇͆͒̈̐N̵̳̥͉͕͗̂̈̅͊͊̚K̴̩̠̳̹̒̿͝Ņ̷̤͇͍̰͒̔O̴͙̦̔̓̓́̀W̶̧̖̣̞̳̆͋̅̔N̷̡̛̾͝**

 **Level: ?**

 **Description: Also known as Reborn, Ḛ̴̛̛̀͑͊̎͘R̴̼̦̞̙͎̳͒̐̓̍̓͂̕͜R̷̢̨͉̥͔̥͎̖̝̱̠͛̑̒̑́̑̇̕Ő̷̬͎̽̔͐̓̊̐̋̕͝͝R̶̞͔̞͈̹̹͇̫͉͇͋̽̈́͂͒ ̶̨̯̯͍͖͍͍̩͎̣̱̤̱̩̳̏̃͋͑̆̈́̅͠Ę̶̨̢̧̟̩͔̫̗̤͑͊̆͘̚R̸̺͔͉̞̉̏͐͂̌͑̓̊̆͝͠R̸̖̮̥͇̥̝̹͓̰̱̰̗̫̊̇̊͐ͅͅÖ̷̢͍̙̞̖͉̫̲̟̯́̈͒̏̌̔̋͋̕͝R̸̨̟̝̣̝̜̈́̾̌̕͠ ̴̢̘̦͙͙̹̣̭̼̺̑̃̉͐͂Ȩ̶̦̻̗̦̘̱̫͉̿͗͋̽̌̀͋́̈́̓̅̈́̚͜ͅŘ̷̩͔̜̌R̸̡̡̨̗̥̤̪͔͈͈͎̐́͗͊̂̓ͅǪ̶̤̟̜͇̝̿͒Ŕ̴̢̢̞͇͓̂̅͂̑̓͌̆̀́͠ͅ ̸̝̙̲̠̼̜̝͕̻̪̦̂̿̂̈́̀͋̓͛̐́̐̀̉͜E̴̞͇̮͊Ṙ̴͖̥̠̗͖͖̝̺̝͂̎̊̉́̀̇͝R̶̯̻̭̫͚̳̼̪̍̈́͗̄Ǫ̸̛̥͎͔̠̫͈̹̟̼̱́̀̃̽̊̾̔̎͋̓̈́̽̚͝ͅR̴̢͎̥̥͍̘̞̼̹̞̱͔̀̍͋̔͛̍̍̃̐Ḛ̴̛̛̀͑͊̎͘R̴̼̦̞̙͎̳͒̐̓̍̓͂̕͜R̷̢̨͉̥͔̥͎̖̝̱̠͛̑̒̑́̑̇̕Ő̷̬͎̽̔͐̓̊̐̋̕͝͝R̶̞͔̞͈̹̹͇̫͉͇͋̽̈́͂͒ ̶̨̯̯͍͖͍͍̩͎̣̱̤̱̩̳̏̃͋͑̆̈́̅͠Ę̶̨̢̧̟̩͔̫̗̤͑͊̆͘̚R̸̺͔͉̞̉̏͐͂̌͑̓̊̆͝͠R̸̖̮̥͇̥̝̹͓̰̱̰̗̫̊̇̊͐ͅͅÖ̷̢͍̙̞̖͉̫̲̟̯́̈͒̏̌̔̋͋̕͝R̸̨̟̝̣̝̜̈́̾̌̕͠ ̴̢̘̦͙͙̹̣̭̼̺̑̃̉͐͂Ȩ̶̦̻̗̦̘̱̫͉̿͗͋̽̌̀͋́̈́̓̅̈́̚͜ͅŘ̷̩͔̜̌R̸̡̡̨̗̥̤̪͔͈͈͎̐́͗͊̂̓ͅǪ̶̤̟̜͇̝̿͒Ŕ̴̢̢̞͇͓̂̅͂̑̓͌̆̀́͠ͅ ̸̝̙̲̠̼̜̝͕̻̪̦̂̿̂̈́̀͋̓͛̐́̐̀̉͜E̴̞͇̮͊Ṙ̴͖̥̠̗͖͖̝̺̝͂̎̊̉́̀̇͝R̶̯̻̭̫͚̳̼̪̍̈́͗̄Ǫ̸̛̥͎͔̠̫͈̹̟̼̱́̀̃̽̊̾̔̎͋̓̈́̽̚͝ͅR̴̢͎̥̥͍̘̞̼̹̞̱͔̀̍͋̔͛̍̍̃̐Ḛ̴̛̛̀͑͊̎͘R̴̼̦̞̙͎̳͒̐̓̍̓͂̕͜R̷̢̨͉̥͔̥͎̖̝̱̠͛̑̒̑́̑̇̕Ő̷̬͎̽̔͐̓̊̐̋̕͝͝R̶̞͔̞͈̹̹͇̫͉͇͋̽̈́͂͒ ̶̨̯̯͍͖͍͍̩͎̣̱̤̱̩̳̏̃͋͑̆̈́̅͠Ę̶̨̢̧̟̩͔̫̗̤͑͊̆͘̚R̸̺͔͉̞̉̏͐͂̌͑̓̊̆͝͠R̸̖̮̥͇̥̝̹͓̰̱̰̗̫̊̇̊͐ͅͅÖ̷̢͍̙̞̖͉̫̲̟̯́̈͒̏̌̔̋͋̕͝R̸̨̟̝̣̝̜̈́̾̌̕͠ ̴̢̘̦͙͙̹̣̭̼̺̑̃̉͐͂Ȩ̶̦̻̗̦̘̱̫͉̿͗͋̽̌̀͋́̈́̓̅̈́̚͜ͅŘ̷̩͔̜̌R̸̡̡̨̗̥̤̪͔͈͈͎̐́͗͊̂̓ͅǪ̶̤̟̜͇̝̿͒Ŕ̴̢̢̞͇͓̂̅͂̑̓͌̆̀́͠ͅ ̸̝̙̲̠̼̜̝͕̻̪̦̂̿̂̈́̀͋̓͛̐́̐̀̉͜E̴̞͇̮͊Ṙ̴͖̥̠̗͖͖̝̺̝͂̎̊̉́̀̇͝R̶̯̻̭̫͚̳̼̪̍̈́͗̄Ǫ̸̛̥͎͔̠̫͈̹̟̼̱́̀̃̽̊̾̔̎͋̓̈́̽̚͝ͅR̴̢͎̥̥͍̘̞̼̹̞̱͔̀̍͋̔͛̍̍̃̐Ḛ̴̛̛̀͑͊̎͘R̴̼̦̞̙͎̳͒̐̓̍̓͂̕͜R̷̢̨͉̥͔̥͎̖̝̱̠͛̑̒̑́̑̇̕Ő̷̬͎̽̔͐̓̊̐̋̕͝͝R̶̞͔̞͈̹̹͇̫͉͇͋̽̈́͂͒ ̶̨̯̯͍͖͍͍̩͎̣̱̤̱̩̳̏̃͋͑̆̈́̅͠Ę̶̨̢̧̟̩͔̫̗̤͑͊̆͘̚R̸̺͔͉̞̉̏͐͂̌͑̓̊̆͝͠R̸̖̮̥͇̥̝̹͓̰̱̰̗̫̊̇̊͐ͅͅÖ̷̢͍̙̞̖͉̫̲̟̯́̈͒̏̌̔̋͋̕͝R̸̨̟̝̣̝̜̈́̾̌̕͠ ̴̢̘̦͙͙̹̣̭̼̺̑̃̉͐͂Ȩ̶̦̻̗̦̘̱̫͉̿͗͋̽̌̀͋́̈́̓̅̈́̚͜ͅŘ̷̩͔̜̌R̸̡̡̨̗̥̤̪͔͈͈͎̐́͗͊̂̓ͅǪ̶̤̟̜͇̝̿͒Ŕ̴̢̢̞͇͓̂̅͂̑̓͌̆̀́͠ͅ ̸̝̙̲̠̼̜̝͕̻̪̦̂̿̂̈́̀͋̓͛̐́̐̀̉͜E̴̞͇̮͊Ṙ̴͖̥̠̗͖͖̝̺̝͂̎̊̉́̀̇͝R̶̯̻̭̫͚̳̼̪̍̈́͗̄Ǫ̸̛̥͎͔̠̫͈̹̟̼̱́̀̃̽̊̾̔̎͋̓̈́̽̚͝ͅR̴̢͎̥̥͍̘̞̼̹̞̱͔̀̍͋̔͛̍̍̃̐**

* * *

A sharp pain fills Tsuna's head when he tries to read the text in the box, enough so that he's pretty sure he's going to have a headache for the rest of the day. Oh, this is simply marvelous.

 _*Ding!*_

 _The information you have attempted to view is restricted. Access to this information can only be gained either by learning it on your own, or by becoming more powerful than the one who put a lock on the information in the first place._

And it gets better! Tsuna's pretty sure that it would be less painful and worth far less trouble if he just rammed his head into a wall until his HP gave out. Knowing his luck though, he'd max out his Physical Resistance skill before he could end his more metaphorical pain.

"Ciaossu!" What. The. Actual. Fuck?

"Pfft. Hehe. Hehehe. Hahahaha!" Tsuna can't help it.

A combination of fear, confusion, and the sheer ridiculousness of the situation causes tsuna to crack, and he starts hysterically laughing. We're talking, holding his sides, tearing up a little at the corners of his eyes, almost rolling on the ground laughing.

"This baby? Him?!" Nana tilts her head to the side in confusion while the infant tilts his head forward a little so his hat shadows his eyes.

If Tsuna was more coherent, he might understand how what he said might sound a bit odd. To a normal person, he might be asking how or why a literal baby could be a tutor. Or maybe he was laughing at a baby wearing a suit. Either way, nobody could know that he was actually going delirious about how such a small figure could apparently not only be more powerful than Tsuna by a minimum of a little over 30 levels.

Oh hey, he also got a notification telling him Observe has gained a level, putting it at 12. That only seems to egg Tsuna on as the whole situation makes him crack up harder. If he was more cognizant of his surroundings, he might have noticed the tiny foot about to slam into his midsection. He couldn't dodge it, much less block it, but he would have at least noticed it.

 **-50 HP**

 **Current HP: 180/230**

Oh hey, Physical Resistance gained two levels. At least, that's what Tsuna notices once he can see past both the tears and his bangs as he keels over holding his stomach. That baby may be tiny, but it packs more of a punch than anything else Tsuna's had to face so far. The second thing Tsuna notices, is what appears to be a neon green gun pointed at his face.

"HIEE!" Tsuna quickly backpedals away from the baby, keeping his eyes locked on the gun that he swears wasn't there a second ago.

"First impression are really important, so let's try that again. Ciaossu! My name is Reborn. I'll be your tutor from now on. Nice to meetcha." Defaulting to the only two things he's certain of - Phantomdrache told him to trust Reborn, and his mom didn't raise a son with no manners - Tsuna shakily bows his head a little.

"H-hel-lo. M-m-my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, b-but most people c-c-call me Tsuna. Nice t-to meet you too, mister Reborn." the baby looks him up and down for a moment before nodding, a contemplative look on his head.

"Could use some work, but not the worst start i've had. I'll whip you into a fine boss in no time. Now, let's talk shop." and with that, Reborn takes a spot at the dining room table.

Nana simply smiles and goes along with what's going on, no questions asked. Tsuna loves his mom to death and back, but he swears to Kami somedays that she's a bit touched in the head. Slowly and careful to not make too much eye contact, Tsuna retakes his own spot at the table while his mom sets a plate full of food and a cup of coffee in front of Reborn.

"Ah, thank you Maman. Is it okay if I call you that?" Nana beams at the tiny gentleman and gushes about how cute he is, and of course he can call her Maman, after all she's always wanted more kids.

"Now, onto serious business." Tsuna grips his fork a little harder and looks at the infant who takes a sip of coffee before continuing to speak.

"I've taken the liberty of looking over Tsunayoshi's grades before coming here. Practically fails every test. Nearly gets held back every year. Poor at math, science, writing, English, PE, art, and is a complete loser socially. Known as 'No-Good Tsuna' for the vast majority of his time in school, he's a complete and total failure academically." every word is like a knife stabbing into Tsuna's back, reminding him of exactly where he started this school year, but before he can defend himself Reborn starts speaking again.

"Thankfully, since starting highschool two days ago, Tsunayoshi seems to be improving. His classwork is passable, his physical abilities are at least average, and he seems to finally be making connections with his classmates. Hardly where one would want a child to be, but undeniably better than before. Now, with some time, effort, and lots of discipline, I can turn that 'average' and 'passable' into 'exemplary'. My methods are praised by teachers and scientists known around the world, and I have already trained multiple other people to be the men and women they were destined to become. Now, if you choose to accept, I can take on the task of training young Tsunayoshi as soon as today."

While certainly in awe at the well formatted and highly convincing argument that Reborn has laid before him, a small part of Tsuna is still a little wary at letting such a person into his home. His mother, on the other hand, had no such issue.

"Why, that sounds wonderful! We have a spare room down here on the first floor that you can use. Of course, Tsu-kun has to go to school here soon, but after school i'm sure you'll have plenty of time to get to know him." Tsuna weakly raises his hand and speaks up.

"Don't I get a vote on this?" WHAM!

 **-48 HP**

 **Current HP: 182/230**

Really, Tsuna's lucky that The Game gives him the super human ability to recover his health in seconds, and that that whole conversation had taken maybe two or three minutes, or else he'd probably be at about half health, rather than where he is now. At least at this rate levelling up Physical Resistance would be as easy as pie.

"That won't be necessary, Maman. As his tutor, it would only be proper of me to keep track of what he is and isn't learning from Namimori high. therefore, I shall be keeping an eye on him during school hours. This will help me in both my endeavors to standardize his education, but also advise him in day to day matters should the need arise. From a respectable distance of course." Tsuna quietly whimpers as he tries to extract his face from his breakfast.

Ignoring the blue box telling him about Physical REsistance gaining experience, Tsuna looks at the time only to stand up and start rapidly making his way to the door.

"Gotta go, don't want to be late! Love you kaa-san, see you later!" Tapping on his shoes, Tsuna discreetly pulls his backpack from his inventory and leaves his home.

Shaking his head and dismissing the pop-up detailing the start of today's quest to get to school on time, he decides to deal with Reborn later. He has more important things to worry about. Like Kyoko and today's gym class, as well as whether or not the blue boxes are going to slowly drive him insane.

Starting to jog his way to school, the thoughts in his head seem to be weighing him down more than usual. In fact, his head seems oddly heavy, as if it were more than just a metaphorical weight holding him back. It's almost as if some small, child-sized weight had decided to take temporary residency on top of his cranium.

"Mind telling my why you're sitting on my head, mister Reborn?" The baby doesn't react to being called out, or at least not in a way that Tsuna can notice, though the sipping sound would insinuate that he had taken his cup of coffee with the two of them.

"You're reacting oddly calmly to all of this, Tsunayoshi-kun." Tsuna sighs, and slows his jog to a halt, he lightly grabs at the pendent beneath his shirt hoping it will give him the strength to handle this bullshit.

"I'm just too tired to react properly to this madness. I promise that i'll give you the full emotional outburst when I can get my thoughts together. Now, would you please answer my question?"

Instead of answering Tsuna, Reborn hops off his head, dropping a distance that might have worried Tsuna if he didn't already know that at bare minimum Reborn was working on six times his level. Turning around, Reborn looks at a rapidly approaching figure. It takes Tsuna a moment, and when he recognizes the person in front of him, he almost faints then and there in surprise.

"Ah, how cute!" Kyoko is there, squatting and greeting Reborn like he were any regular kid.

"Ciaossu." before Tsuna can greet his tentative friend, a new figure approaches.

Looking mildly dishevelled, and breathing a little harder than probably necessary, she is a brunette with her hair in a loose ponytail and a trio of hair-pins holding back a bang on the left side of her face. Her uniform doesn't look like Tsuna's or Kyoko's, consisting of a blue ribbon where they were red ties - ribbons in the case of Kyoko and the other girls, but still red which is the point Tsuna is trying to make to the other half of this imaginary conversation - and a yellow sweater vest over a white short-sleeve.

"Is this kid your younger brother?!" not even a 'how do you do', for shame.

Tsuna isn't actually sure how to respond, never having been asked that question and pretty sure that no answer he could give here would adequately explain the scenario. He waves his hand and with a little waver in his voice denies the accusation. Kyoko hasn't seemed to notice this byplay, and asks Reborn why he is wearing a suit, and Tsuna's beating heart starts to drop in expectation for the other shoe to follow.

"Because i'm in the mafia." forget dropping, Tsuna is pretty sure that his heart would now qualify as a tourist of the international space station.

The fact that Kyoko seems to think this a funny joke goes right over Tsuna's head as he wonders about the implications of what Reborn just said. Could he be related to Iemitsu? Is this 'vongola corporation' some front? Is Reborn truly there to help him, or is he out to kill Tsuna for some slight his father had committed?

Tsuna has so many questions bouncing around his head that he barely notices the two girls leaving. He never did catch the strange girls name, though Tsuna would later have to admit she was a little cute. Nowhere as cute as Kyoko of course, but at least passably cute compared to any girl that's not perfection incarnate according to him. He certainly comes back to his senses when Reborn starts speaking to him directly though.

"Tsuna, that's the girl your interested in right?"

"Huh? Are you nuts?! Firstly, 'that girl' is Sasagawa Kyoko, the idol of my school. Secondly, I don't see how that's any of your concern. Now, about thi-" cutting him off, Reborn starts speaking again.

"As your tutor, it's my responsibility to know and understand your ties and connections. As a hitman it's important to know who can and can't be trusted. Anyways, have you confessed to her yet?" Trying to wrap his head around all the information being flung at him at once, Tsuna responds with the first thing to pop into his head.

"D-Don't be ridiculous. I told you already: Kyoko is my schools idol. there's no way someone like me would even be on her radar."

"Your average test scores for middle school were 17 point 5. You couldn't go higher than the third level on the vaulting horse. You couldn't even spin on the horizontal bar. So it's because you've been known as 'No-Good Tsuna this whole time that you think you aren't worth her time?"

"Right, right." Tsuna nods his head before something in it clocks and he catches up with what Reborn just said.

"Hey! Since when were you hired as my psychiatrist?" Reborn smirks before responding while tilting his hat dramatically.

"I'm the complete package." A twitch forms in Tsuna's eyebrow.

"The hell's that supposed to mean? Anyway, just get off my back about Kyoko. If I could go out with her I could die happy, but I have bigger things to worry about right now." At this point Tsuna's mood drops a bit, going from indignant to resigned.

"Besides, even I know that it's a waste of time. I may be slow, but i'm not completely clueless."

"That's a strong inferiority complex." The twitch returns.

"I told you to stop trying to psychoanalyze me already!" Reborn smirks again, and hold out a finger which the green lizard crawls onto.

"Looks like it's finally time." Tsuna blinks, his irritation moved to the side, though not forgotten.

"You'll understand if you die." Tsuna's eyes widen and he starts to move backwards as the green lizard starts to glow, but he is too slow to react to the events that follow.

The glow fades, revealing a green gun in the place the gecko resided in just moments ago. Reborn points the barrel at Tsuna and pulls the trigger, releasing a beam of light that flows directly from the tip of the gun to Tsuna's forehead.

 _'Ah, I died.'_

 **_GoF_Gof_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_Gof_**

 **AN:** Salutations! Now, you might have noticed that i've failed to put a note on the beginning of the last few chapters of this story, plus most of my recent chapters for HAR. This is two-part: firstly, I actually just don't have a whole lot to say. My IRL persona is fairly boring, so not a whole lot happens that I can talk about. Work is alright I suppose. What few friends I have are leading their own, far more exciting lives. Stuff like that which doesn't really affect this story. Secondly, I just haven't really had the time. Sure, I could put about a hundred to two hundred words in each chapter talking about my creative process and how I think i'm gonna take this story, but that's time and words that could be better spent working on the story itself. and besides, i'm liable to completely change my plans for this story at the drop of a hat - always curious where that phrase came from - and so anything I write down in that regard could just end up being false, which could be considered lying to you guys, and lying is bad. My therapist says so. Lol, just kidding, I don't go to therapy. Tried a few times, but most of my issues apparently require the majority of work to come from within, and ain't nobody got time for that. Anyways, long story short, I just haven't had a whole lot to say, and even less desire to say what I could. I figure that I should still do this whole 'AN' bit every once in a while though because I really do think it brings us - me and you reading this - closer together. See, i'm no longer ' the guy who writes that one story that I kinda like', i've become 'that annoying fuck who writes a half-way decent story but won't shut the fuck up'. Either way, I just wanted to pop in, say hello to all the old readers that've been waiting for this update, as well as all the new faces that aren't quite used to the way I do things around here. Enjoy the visit, talk with some of your fellow readers, have a cup of tea. Or you could have coffee. It's all figurative so you can drink whatever. Now, where was I? Ah yes, I wanted to just kinda remind you guys that I have no control over my life, no sense of what the hell i'm doing at any point in time, and this website alternates between bringing me to new heights of joy (did you know that this story has just under 7500 views and 35 reviews while HAR has almost 120,000 views and 235 reviews?) and new heights of stress. I swear that half of these chapters end up finished less than twelve hours before I post them and the colour of my hair has gotten at least three shades closer to grey in just the last month. Blargh. Well, at least i'm having fun and still haven't received a death threat. Kinda hoping for one at this point, just to keep things interesting you know? Well, that's all that I can really spew tonight ( as of writing this for the first time i'm about three hours late to my self-imposed bed time and I have to get up in about 6 hours to go to work, so this is fun.) so I guess i'll see you guys later. Next update is the second chapter to Temporal distortion, which will be a double length feature just because it likes to occasionally pop up on my shoulder and bug me until I write damn near a thousand words on a day i'm supposed to be working on something else. Well, catch you on the flip side.

Sincerely,

Phantom Drache.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Day 3, Part 2**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_Gof_**

A faint ripple in the air appears and fades in the fractions of a second it takes for the bolt of energy to travel from Reborn's gun to Tsuna's forehead. The impact causes the young boys head to tilt backwards as his feet lift off the ground a few centimeters. His body falls to the ground, creating a dull thud.

His eyes slowly glaze over, the light within his brown irises fading as darkness overtakes his vision. While they slowly close, he thinks of a lot of things. His mom, the Game, the fact that he was finally starting to improve, and a dozen things he wishes he had had the time to do. Above all else, one thought echoes in his mind.

 _'Ah, I wish I could see Kyoko one more time. If only I had tried with my dying will, I would have had the courage to confess to her.'_ The sensation of his eyes closing feels like it takes an eternity for Tsuna, but in reality it barely takes a full second.

After his eyes fully shut, a faint light appears around his head that quickly grows to encapsulate his entire body. The glow then shrinks and concentrates above his forehead, creating a small flicker of orange fire. Suddenly his eyes snap open, but instead of a soft brown his eyes are a bright orange, just like the flames above his head.

"Grrrh, REBORN!" Tsuna swings his arms to his sides, slapping his palms against the concrete.

Normally were he to do so, nothing would happen. However it would appear that physics has taken a day off. The impact creates a pair of small craters where his hands hit, and the force launches Tsuna upwards into a standing position.

"I'LL CONFESS WITH MY DYING WILL!" As he shouts this he raises his head to the sky and clenches his fists to his sides, and at the same time his shirt, pants, and shoes practically explode off of him leaving him in just a pair of blue boxers and his necklace.

A small blue box appears by his head, as does a red box, but Tsuna completely ignores both of them. His eyes dart around wildly until the focus on the street ahead of him, where Kyoko had disappeared over mere minutes ago.

Shifting his weight, Tsuna leans into a runner stance with his hands on the ground facing outwards and one leg in front of the other behind him. A vein twitches in his right leg and like a bullet he's off, creating a dust cloud and another pair of small craters where he pushed off the ground with his feet hard enough to break the concrete.

"WHERE IS SASAGAWA KYOKO?!" moving at breakneck speeds, Tsuna actually creates a strong enough wind pressure that he's kicking up papers and almost knocking people over from three feet away as he passes them.

Running at full speed, he actually passes Kyoko. The young girl was simply walking to school, and had actually just met up with her best friend Hana, when all of the sudden a burst of wind causes her to cover her eyes to avoid having dust fly into them.

"AH, I PASSED HER! NEED TO TURN AROUND!" Tsuna shouts this, but is moving far too quickly to stop.

Running forward, he notices that the road he's running down becomes a crossroad and the way forward is a dead end with a large building blocking his path. Undeterred, he runs at full speed. Shockingly, he actually starts to run up the building about three meters before he twists in midair and falls to the ground, now facing the way he came.

Immediately he starts running again, leaving another set of miniature craters to mark his path. Back the way he came, a young man turns a corner onto the road and meanderingly approaches the crossroad that Tsuna is also approaching.

The young man is around Tsuna's age, maybe a year older, and two things normally stick out about him to those who spot him. The first is his pure white hair. The second is the large scar that crosses over his left eyebrow. Combined with his tanned skin, intense grey eyes, the bandage on his nose, and the fact that his hands are wrapped in sports tape, most who see him automatically assume him to be some kind of thug.

Who he is might have been important, and perhaps he and Tsuna would have gotten along well in Tsuna's current state. Either way, when the white-haired boy noticed a truck about to speed across the intersection without stopping to check for walkers at the same time that Tsuna was about to race across the intersection himself, he shouted out for Tsuna to stop.

Tsuna does not stop, and in fact slams right into the side of the truck. If the positions were reversed, Tsuna might very well have isekai'd the poor defenceless truck. As it is, he slams into the side of the metal vehicle so hard that he actually launches himself backwards, leaving a human sized dent in the trucks rear.

Sent flying into the sky, Tsuna's face doesn't change from nearly enraged determination. Even as he reaches the top of a building a few blocks away, and bounces off the railing for the roof, his face doesn't so much as twitch.

"THIS MEANS NOTHING!" falling back down, Tsuna spots his school not too far away.

Deciding that the best way to catch up to Kyoko would be to go to school, the moment he slams feet first into the asphalt below, he starts to speed off once more. Where he was just moments ago, the white haired boy and driver of the delivery truck scratch their heads in confusion over what just happened, one curious where a young boy had disappeared to and the other curious about what just hit his truck.

Continuing to run, Tsuna eventually makes it to Namimori High, and wouldn't you know it Kyoko and Hana are almost at the front gate. Tsuna makes a bee-line for them.

Sliding to a halt just in front of the now very startled girls, Tsuna prepares to shout out a confession at the top of his lungs. However, just before he can do so, the flame on his forehead flickers and fades out of existence. Thankfully, the dust kicked up by his hasty stop obscures the disappearing flame from the eyes of those around him.

What it doesn't obscure when it settles is Tsuna, in basically only a pair of blue boxers, standing in front of the school's two most popular girls. All three of them looking incredible startled and confused.

Tsuna's internal monologue can be briefly summarized as 'What the fuck did I just do?' One moment he's been shot in the head, and the next it's like a fog has clouded his mind and he doesn't really know what he's done for the last few minutes, just that everything hurts for some reason, and now he's nearly naked in front of his crush and the rest of the school.

There's a series of boxes waiting to be read, but before he can do anything, Kyoko's brain turns back on. Turning bright red, she shouts in surprise and runs inside, Hana glaring at Tsuna for a moment before running after Kyoko.

"You bastard, what are you doing to my girl?!" a fist comes out of nowhere, slamming into Tsuna's unprotected face and sending him to the ground.

Looking up, Tsuna sees the face of his assaulter: Mochida Kensuke, captain of the kendo team form middle school and the guy who refers to himself as Kyoko's boyfriend despite her never actually agreeing to it. He speaks up again before Tsuna can say anything.

"Meet me in the gym during lunch! I'll show you what you get for tarnishing Kyoko's honor, you vulgar ruffian!" and with that he leaves.

"What the hell just happened?" Tsuna sits dumbfounded, staring at the school while the other students out and about start to head inside.

"It's thanks to the Dying Will Bullet." Reborn's voice comes from somewhere nearby, but looking about, Tsuna can't spout the baby until he looks upwards.

The suit-clad infant is riding a solid green parachute. Descending to about a foot off the ground, the parachute suddenly glows a kaleidoscope of colours before shrinking and shifting into the same chameleon looking lizard that rides on Reborn's hat.

"Huh?" Tsuna's brain nearly shuts down at yet another world altering sight, while Reborn pulls out a red bullet that has an engraving of a cartoon flame with angry eyes.

"This is the Dying Will Bullet. A person shot by this will be resurrected with dying will. Long story short, the basis for resurrection is if you have any lingering regrets when dying. It changes 'I should have done it' to 'i'll do it with my dying will'. It varies from person to person, but Dying Will Mode as it's called usually lasts four to five minutes before the victim returns to normal. Yours was actually one of the shortest i've seen, lasting about two minutes." Tsuna decides to move past a LOT of very important questions for the moment and focus on something a little more immediate.

"What would have happened if I didn't regret anything?" Reborn smirks a little and tilts his head to the side, not looking at Tsuna.

"I'm a hitman after all." 'so i'd have died' is Tsuna's first thought, and not without reason.

Placing his hands over his face, Tsuna just barely represses the urge to scream into his palms. He then takes several calming breaths and stands up. He then remembers his current state of undress, and feels a dark and heavy sensation fall upon his shoulders. Following the vague feeling in his stomach, he turns and locks eyes with a figure on the rooftop: Hibari Kyoya.

"Reborn, what shoul-" Tsuna is once more interrupted, this time by Reborn throwing a pile of clothes in his face.

Tsuna doesn't really bother thinking about how Reborn managed to fix his school clothes so fast, though he does notice that the stitching was halfway decent at best. He rapidly puts the clothes on, and while the feeling of Hibari's malice fades significantly, it doesn't quite disappear.

"So, why does everything hurt?"

"Well, when you 'die', all of your mental restrictions turn 'off', so when doing things with your dying will they can't hold you back. This allows you to use incredible strength and ignore pain, but at the cost of slowly breaking your body down from the inside out." Tsuna might have kept asking questions, but a red box in the corner of his eye reminding him that he has two minutes to get to class hurries him along.

As he enters, half of the class starts to laugh at him, calling him names like 'underpants man', while the other half can't seem to decide on avoiding eye contact or whispering conspiratorially. Tsuna sighs, and steps into the classroom, only for a buzz to sound in his head as he slams face first into the ground. More people laugh at him.

He brushes himself off and uneasily makes his way to his desk, trying desperately not to look in Kyoko or Hana's direction. Making his way to his seat, he finally decides to look at all the boxes floating around his head. Hopefully they'll at least distract him, and fill him in a bit on what happened between getting shot and 'waking up' in front of the school nearly naked.

 _Through outside influence, you have learned the Combat Skill: Dying Will Mode._

 _Description: Harness the power of your ? ? Flames, vastly increasing your physical power. This is an incomplete technique however, and has drawbacks. Intelligence and wisdom are decreased, and your body takes damage from the very power enhancing it._

 _+400% to Str, Dex, and Con_

 _-99% to Int and Wis_

 _-1 Hp per second_

 _-Lasts 2 minutes (120 seconds)_

 **-24 HP.**

 **Seriously, what idiot slams face first into a moving vehicle? If it weren't for Dying Will Mode dropping your mental stats like a rock, I'd take away an Int point for that.**

 _Physical Resistance has gained 19 Exp._

 _Physical Resistance has leveled up! Now it's at Level 4._

 _For running roughly one kilometer in under two minutes while under the influence of Dying Will mode, the Skill Running has gained 1500 Exp._

 _Dying Will Flame has gained 90 Experience._

 _-25 Reputation with Kyoko Sasagawa_

 _-30 Reputation with Hana Kurokawa_

 _-100 Reputation with Kensuke Mochida_

 **-10 HP**

 _Physical resistance has gained 10 Exp._

 _You made it to school on time!_

 _You have completed day three of the Daily Quest: Get to School!_

 _+15 Exp to Tsuna_

 _+8 Exp to Pendant of Pride_

 _+10 Reputation with Classmates, Teachers, and Fellow Students_

Well, at least there was nothing in the wall of text that said he was going to die soon, though his impending fight with Mochida might change that. Seriously, what sort of magic voodoo is packed into those bullets?

Tsuna's mind isn't really on his morning classes. Most of his time is spent thinking about his impending beat-down, trying not to think about it, and then being reminded of it by one of the boys in his class. Thankfully, Kyoko and Hana don't so much as make a peep in his general direction.

By the time the lunch bell rang, Tsuna was nervously bouncing his legs and darting his eyes between the door and window as if trying to decide if he should run away or throw himself out a window.

Immediately bolting from the room, Tsuna formulates a quick plan. He's going to lock himself in a bathroom, climb out a window, hope that the fall damage won't break his legs, and go home for the day.

As with all things Tsuna tries to do, this plan is almost immediately scrapped when he runs into an obstacle. Literally. Falling to the ground thankfully doesn't cause Tsuna any damage, but when he looks up, he wishes he had just jumped out the classroom window.

"Well hello there, runt. I heard you had a little scuffle planned for today. Eager to get started, eh?" the gym teacher Revy, whom Tsuna had absolutely no plans of interacting with outside of the bare minimum - due to being MAFIA - looks down on Tsuna.

"Uh-"

"Great! I'll lead the way and supervise. A little healthy competition is just what you guys need to kick off the year."

Ignoring anything he might have tried to say, Revy picks Tsuna up by the back of his shirt and starts dragging him down the hallway. Tsuna feebly tries to free himself, but by the time they were halfway down the stairs, he just kinda wished she'd let him walk on his feet.

Its with bittersweet amusement that Tsuna starts to think about his situation. Forced into something he want's nothing to do with by someone with more power. It's like waking up the The Game again, only with a lot less video game mechanics and more pain in his bones. And probably his face too.

 _'Well, it's not like I can run away. If I do, either Lee-senesi, Mochida-senpai, or Hibari-senpai will hunt me down for wasting everyone's time. Plus I wouldn't make it three steps before Sensei caught up to me. I can't see her stats, but I know that she's a higher level and that means she's probably way stronger than me.'_

Figuring that he might as well resign himself to his unfortunate early demise, Tsuna starts to try and do something he has never really been good at: plan. Usually his plans start at 'go to school', and end with 'go home after school', yet somehow something inevitably goes wrong between steps one and two to make his day terrible.

In this case, he has to try and survive an assault from the kid who was captain of the kendo club in middle school, and has no doubt already started on the path to repeating this achievement in high school. Meanwhile Tsuna has no notable positions or abilities.

Well, there's always the Game, but somehow he's pretty sure that flinging a fireball at a fellow student would cause far more issues than just detention. At least it's made him strong enough he might be able to put up a paltry excuse for a resistance.

As he's dragged outside in the direction of the gymnasium, Tsuna's eyes manage to glance over and spot Reborn sitting on the edge of the roof. He's too far away to make it out, but Tsuna's pretty sure that Reborn's smirking at him. Tsuna's mind flashes back to this morning.

 _'If I had the power of the Dying Will Bullet, I could do it. I just have to somehow-'_ Tsuna's thoughts are interrupted when he get's thrown onto the floor of the gymnasium.

All around him are his classmates, fellow freshman, and a few scattered others from higher years. Almost all of them are whispering amongst themselves, some obviously making jokes about Tsuna's chances judging by how the glance over at him randomly and snicker.

Only a few look genuinely concerned for Tsuna. One of those being Kyoko herself, which gives Tsuna some pause. True, he had little to no control over his actions, but he still almost did something terrible by screaming a confession at her in front of the entire school.

Even if his reputation's no longer in the toilet, it'd still be super embarrassing for her. Not that showing up in front of her in just his underwear wasn't bad enough. And besides, he was just starting to become friends with her. He owes it to her to go through with this 'fight'. True, he really, really, REALLY didn't want to go anywhere near Mochida, but what would she think if he just ran away at the first sign of danger?

Inside Tsuna's Mind

In a pitch black void, Tsuna stands facing Kyoko. He tries to explain himself, stumbling over his words. She tears up a little before turning around. Tsuna tries to reach out, but her words stop him cold.

 _"How can I trust someone who runs away all the time? Forget being your girlfriend, I never want to see your face again."_ Tsuna falls to his knees as she vanishes.

Tsuna cries out in despair, but she doesn't come back. The darkness becomes more oppressing, and starts to feel like he's suffocating. He wishes he could just curl up and disappear.

Back in the real world

Tsuna shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. First it's sexual confusion, now it's depression? Man, isn't puberty just the best? Thankfully it seems the that whole thing had only taken a second or two in real time. Tsuna stands up, brushing off his pants.

"So, didn't run away, No-Good Tsuna? Colour me impressed. Now, it's time for you to face me in single combat, and pay for your crimes like a real man!" Tsuna's eye twitches in slight irritation.

For starters, he was trying to run, but Revy had caught him and dragged him into this. And secondly, he really didn't like that title of 'No-Good'. He had worked hard to remove it, and by Kami he wasn't going to let it come back! Before he could try to formulate a response, Revy calls out to everyone in the gym.

"Alright! Let's get this bloodbath started! I'll be the referee for this, so nobody has to worry about favouritism. Now, there are only three rules. Rule number one: The only weapons allowed are your fists, feet, and shinai. Use of anything else is cause for disqualification. Rule number two: Victory is determined by your opponent either forfeiting or being unable to continue. Rule number three: As the referee, anything I say goes. Failure to listen to anything I say will not only disqualify you, but you'll also be serving three weeks detention with me. Understand?"

Mochida grins and nods, obviously expecting an easy victory. Tsuna gulps a little, but still resolutely nods. He may not win, but he's determined to give it his all. A random upperclassman hands Tsuna a shinai, which he holds a little awkwardly in his hands. Mochida stands across from him, dressed in the school uniform just like Tsuna, but holding his own training blade far more competently.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have triggered the Quest: Blades of Hate and Fate!_

 _Description: You must face Mochida in one on one combat, using only your Skills and determination. Will you succeed, or fail? Will you face eternal shame, or finally rise above your station as the dead weight of your class? Everyone will be watching, so do your best not to disappoint._

 _Goal: Defeat Mochida. Use whatever tactics you want, but be aware that doing something like shooting fireballs out of your hands might not be the best idea._

 _Completion Reward: Unknown, dependant on how you win._

 _Failure Reward: Unknown, dependant on how badly you lose._

Tsuna tightens his grip on his 'blade', his eyes narrowing and a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face. Unseen to everyone except for a certain baby, a tiny flicker of pure orange flames appears in his eyes only to disappear a second later.

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

 **AN:** Well, here we are. Seven damn chapters in and just now hitting the climax of the very first episode. Fair warning to those reading this: expect it to be a slower burn than the show was. Not even in that things will take longer to happen, but we'l be exploring it all in a much deeper light than the show did, meaning you're going to get a few chapters that are half me explaining a concept, and then half will be whatever random nonsense my brain creates. How closely will we follow cannon? Who knows. I haven't quite decided yet, so be prepared for an entire Arc to play out completely differently than it did in cannon. Also, before anyone asks: Yes, i'm aware that in cannon Tsuna's Dying Will Mode is supposed to last 4 to 5 minutes. However, out of curiosity I decided to time how much time actually passes in the very first episode, and not counting for obvious time distortion between in-universe time and our-universe time, it comes out to almost exactly two minutes. From the time his clothes rip off to the moment the flame on his head disappears, about two minutes and two seconds pass if you want to be hyper-specific. So I decided to use that as my base. As for how the Skill will change as it levels, well you'll just have to read to find out. That's all I really have to say about today's chapter, so I guess i'll see you guys next month for GoF Chapter 8: Day Three, Dance of Blades.

Signed,

Phantom Drache.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Day 3, Part 3, Samurai Showdown**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Tsuna grips his shinai tightly. He has absolutely no idea how he's going to win this fight, but he's going to give it his best shot. Of course, Revy doesn't really give Tsuna a lot of time to think up a plan of attack.

"Alright, let's begin!" and with that, Tsuna's fate is sealed.

Thankfully Mochida doesn't immediately rush Tsuna, instead walking forward nonchalantly. He swings the shinai to get a feel for it, and starts speaking to Tsuna.

"I'm almost impressed that you came, you pervert. Heaven may forgive you, but I won't. I shall punish you for your actions. Of course, this should be easy given your obvious lack of skill at, well basically everything and anything. But in the spirit of fairness I shall come at you seriously and if you defeat me I shall honor that. The prize for whomever wins this bout is of course the lovely Sasagawa Kyoko!" the whole room goes quiet at that for a moment before furious whispering sweeps through.

Tsuna's lightly shaking hands still as his determination is replaced with a combination of confusion and anger. He's not entirely used to being angry, though he's gotten some extra practice over the last few days. This anger is different somehow. It burns hotter.

"Prize? Who do you think you are, treating Kyoko-chan like some sort of object to be owned? You make me sick, Mochida." Tsuna didn't realise he was talking out loud until he finished, and even he's surprised by the amount of venom in his voice.

Mochida pauses for a little, obviously caught off guard, as his little speech didn't go over as planned. The scattered clapping that follows Tsuna's retort moves his mood from confused to pissed off.

"I see you've gotten awfully arrogant ever since you managed to move from useless to mediocre. Very well. Allow me to carve a lesson into your body that you won't forget." with that, he changes the way he's holding the shinai, and the fight is on for real. Tsuna throws an Observe at Mochida, knowing that any piece of information can be helpful.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Kensuke Mochida, the Annoyance_

 _Level: 9_

 _Description: Captain of the kendo club during middle-school, and now vice captain of the high school kendo club, he's fairly skilled with a blade. He's also extremely arrogant, and maybe just a bit misogynistic._

Not particularly helpful, but at least he knows that Mochida is only three levels above him. That means his stats can't be too much higher. That means he has a chance. Tsuna tightens his grip, and mentally says a short prayer to his necklace and Phantomdrache to give him courage.

Mochida doesn't wait any longer, and immediately takes a few steps towards Tsuna, shifting his grip as he does so. He then thrusts his shinai forward, aiming the 'point' at Tsuna's forehead.

'Just think of him as a Random Encounter. Move out of the way, and retaliate. It's just a wooden sword, and not claws or fangs.' focusing on Mochida and Mochida alone, Tsuna ducks his head out of the way of the attack.

He can feel the edge of the shinai scrape the side of his left cheek, scratching five health points off, but he dodged and that's the important thing. He can dodge, meaning he has a fighting chance. Abandoning the two-hand grip he has on his own weapon, he swings it at Mochida's side with his right hand.

His own attack is sadly blocked by Mochida, who expertly swings the 'blade' of his weapon into the path of Tsuna's hasty counter, though the impact makes a nice sound. Tsuna does get a notification about gaining a sword skill, but he doesn't really have time to worry about that right now and decides to read it later.

Swiping his sword to the side, Mochida nearly knocks the shinai out of Tsuna's hand. Tsuna thankfully doesn't lose it, but he's off balance enough that when Mochida reverses the swing aiming at Tsuna's side, he knows he can't dodge it in time. Eyes widening, he does the first thing that comes to mind: he lashes out with his free hand and punches the oncoming shinai.

He manages to stop the encroaching weapon, but the pain in his fingers and the forty-eight points of health he just lost tells him that that little piece of brilliance nearly broke his hand. Mochida clearly wasn't expecting his attack to be stopped short, and his hands nearly lose their grip on the hilt of his shinai.

With Mochida starting to try and pull back to recenter himself, Tsuna decides to double down on his impulse decision, and grabs the shinai with his now bruised hand, ignoring the spark of pain that that causes. He then pulls Mochida in, and stabs his own weapon at Mochida's head.

Caught flat footed, Mochida can do nothing to stop the oncoming shinai, and takes the full force of the attack. Tsuna's hopes soar when his attack hits, only to drop when the attack does little more than push Mochida back and bruise his forehead.

"Tch, you almost had me worried there for a moment, Sawada. Turns out I was worried about nothing. I've had bee stings more painful!" Mochida starts to laugh, though to Tsuna's surprise nobody else joins him.

In fact, most of the student body seems surprised and impressed with his performance so far, and Yamamoto is even giving him a cheerful smile. Kyoko of course looks worried, but she always looks worried when it comes to someone possibly being hurt. Hana almost doesn't look upset at Tsuna anymore, which he figures is about as good as he's going to get.

Tsuna's not sure how to really feel anymore. On one hand he's despairing because he did jack shit in terms of damage. A whopping 13 according to a little blue box telling him about the fact that he just learned the skill for using swords. On the other, he actually hit Mochida, which was something he would have considered impossible just days ago.

A ping on his Danger Sense tells him he probably should have been paying more attention to Mochida. Tsuna reacts as fast as he can, but all he can do is shift so that the surprise shinai swinging down at his head instead hits his shoulder at an angle, reducing the impact somewhat. He still takes 38 damage though.

Moving to swing at Tsuna again, Mochida is obviously done playing around. Tsuna desperately ducks out of the way of the next attack, which gives him a notification that Dodge leveled up. Tsuna doesn't really have time to read it, but it at least makes dodging the next two attacks ever so slightly easier.

"Stop running around and fight me!" Mochida doesn't seem to take well to Tsuna's panicked dodging, and lashes out with a punch.

With an internal scream of panic, Tsuna's instincts aren't sure whether he should back up or curl up and cry. So his body tries to do both. His back curves away from Mochida as his head lowers. He then stops half-way through as his body realises its mistake, having put his head behind him instead of in front of him.

His mistake works out well for him though, with Mochida's fist passing just over his face. Not that he notices, because Tsuna had closed his eyes for half a second, expecting pain that never came. Opening his eyes in confusion when he hears the tell-tale ding of a blue box appearing, Tsuna then realises that he's about half a second away from falling flat on his ass, and swings his head and torso forward to try and regain his balance.

In doing so, he accidentally slams his forehead into Mochida's. This takes five health off of Tsuna, but apparently it counts as a 'punch', because he got a notification that it had gained an experience point for that attack. It also counted as a critical, doing double damage against his opponent. Probably because Mochida was in no way prepared mentally or physically for the attack.

Stumbling back once more, Mochida grabs his face as a small trickle of blood comes from his nose. Looks like Tsuna just accidentally broke Mochida's nose with his face. Tsauna's hopes continue to swell until Mochida glares at him, and growls low in his throat.

"You're dead meat." Tsuna internally whines as his spirits and stomach drop like a meteor.

'Oh boy, i'm fucked.' Tsuna raises his shinai in preparation for the oncoming assault, only to quickly learn that Mochida wasn't vice-captain of the team for no reason.

Where before he could dodge each attack and stand his ground, the oncoming onslaught of sword strikes completely and totally outclasses the previous exchange. While even Tsuna can tell that each individual attack is a lot sloppier and less refined, they come a lot faster and harder. Tsuna can just barely move his body to dodge out of the way of an approaching attack in time before the next attack is on it's way.

If he had had any sort of skill with a blade - aside from the literal Skill he had just picked up - he might have tried to block the attacks. But he doesn't have any sort of 'block' skill, so he goes with what he knows he has, which is Dodge. It also doesn't really help matters that his internal monologue is looking a lot like someone trying to list all the known expletives, and he's reacting more off of instinct than anything else.

This goes on for about ten seconds before Tsuna stumbles over his own feet, and he hears the metaphorical dice roll in his head as he starts to trip. He had done surprisingly well, having dodged all fourteen of Mochida's attacks, despite the fact that they had continued to increase in speed and ferocity. As Tsuna's panic and Mochida's rage both continue to grow exponentially, the gymnasium in in silent awe at what they're seeing, and more than a few gasps sound out as Tsuna starts to fall backwards.

As a harsh buzz echoes through his mind, and Tsuna's eyes widen as he feels his body tip too far backwards and succumb to gravity. Time slows to a crawl as Tsuna loses his grip on his weapon and it slips out of his hand. Mochida's face twists into sadistic joy and he slowly raises his own shinai to bring it crashing down on Tsuna. Tsuna can only close his eyes and regret.

'If only I wasn't so weak. I might have stood more of a chance. I'm sorry I failed you, Kyoko-chan.' suddenly, Tsuna hears someone speaking, though it's so faint he swears he's imagining it.

"If you feel so strongly, then do it with your dying will."

Tsuna's eyes open when a sudden sharp pain hits his forehead, and he sees the vestiges of a bright yellow trail fade away. Looking forward, he locks eyes with Reborn, who's sitting in a high window sill pointing a miniature sniper rifle at him with a devilish smirk.

Tsuna's thoughts start to cloud over, and as his body makes contact with the floor, everything turns bright orange. From an outsider's perspective the fall had taken less than a single second, and the streak of yellow is easily dismissed as a trick of the light coming from the windows. What isn't a trick of the light is how Tsuna seems to suddenly change when he touches the ground.

Eyes narrowing and shifting into a wrathful visage, Tsuna flows with the momentum of his fall, curling his legs up and pushing himself off the ground like a backflip. Landing on his feet, it's hard to tell who's more confused, though Mochida would probably be a strong contender. Tsuna starts to growl, and a flicker of orange flame appears over his forehead.

At least, to a select few, that's what it appears as. Most of the students there assume it to be another trick of the light, the noon sun bouncing off of his gravity defying hair. Either way, everyone not in the know about Dying Will Flames can really only say that something about Tsuna seems different as he stands up.

"REBORN! I'm going to beat the shit out of Mochida with my dying will!" as Tsuna shouts this to the heavens, his already torn clothing once more rips itself apart.

Mochida's not sure whether to blame the light or his imagination, but for half a second he swears he sees some sort of figure behind Tsuna, almost looking like an orange lion baring it's teeth. He shakes his head, and the image is gone.

"Oh, so you have some spine to you. So what? I'm still going to crush you." Tsuna doesn't respond to the provocation, and instead rushes towards Mochida at incredible speeds.

Trying to swing his shinai to intercept the brunette missile, Mochida is thoroughly surprised when Tsun easily sidesteps the attack and lands a rib cracking punch, all within maybe a third of a second. Mochida curls over Tsuna's fist, coughing up some spit and trying to catch the breath that had just been knocked out of him. Tsuna doesn't ease up though.

Taking half a step back, Tsuna pulls his right fist back to throw another wicked haymaker at Mochida, this time aimed at his face. Eyes widening as he panics, Mochida instinctually moves his shinai as quickly as he can to try and defend himself. Half a second later, he's glad he did because it's the only thing that stops Tsuna from giving him a concussion.

As it is, the raw force behind Tsuna's punch causes him to stumble backwards. His right arm has gone slightly numb, and he can hear the wood of his shinai creaking from the force.

He doesn't get any time to recover though, as yet another bone rattling impact runs down his arms as he blocks Tsuna's punch once more. And again, and again, a total of six time knocking Mochida further back each time. He even swears that, ridiculous as it sounds, the force keeps stronger and stronger with each punch. The force of the sixth punch actually causes him to trip a little, and he falls to one knee.

Looking up, Mochida's not sure whether he's going to act brave in the face of such raw power or try to jab at Tsuna's legendarily weak self-worth in an attempt at getting him to pause long enough for Mochida to take back control of the fight. Either way, he pauses when he sees Tsuna's eyes.

Dilated so that his irises are a fraction of their usual size, Tsuna's eyes in the afternoon sun look to be glowing orange just like the light caught in his hair. Mochida isn't entirely sure what look is in Tsuna's eyes, but he places it halfway between burning rage and freezing determination. Mochida has no doubt that at that very instant, Tsuna wouldn't hesitate to wrestle a bear if it got in the way of beating him up.

Mochida would even wear at that very moment, when the two lock eyes, that it wasn't just Tsuna's eyes and hair that were on fire but rather his entire body seems to be lightly wreathed in burning orange flames. And then said flaming boy sent another earth shaking punch hurtling towards the kendo vice-captain.

"Don't fuck with me, you damn No-Good!" Gritting his teeth, Mochida swings his shinai at full force towards Tsuna's fist, fully intending to break it before it broke him.

To the surprise of both Mochida and the stunned silent audience watching this suddenly one-sided beat down, the moment Tsuna's fist meets the solid wood implement of pain it's not the wood that gives. With a resounding crack, Mochida's sword shatters half-way down. Tsuna had literally broken it with his sheer power.

The entire room freezes at that point, staring at the near impossibility in front of them. All except for two people. The first is Tsuna, who ignores this event and rears back his left fist and slams an uppercut into Mochida's chest. The impact actually raises Mochida off the ground a good centimeter and a half.

The second punch from Tsuna's right fist throws Mochida back across the laminated floor, and nearly knocks him unconscious from the impact alone. A few people instinctively back away as he slides near them. Tsuna doesn't stop though, and stalks forward eyes still locked on his target. Before he can get too close to mochida though, the second person not to be stunned into inaction makes their move.

"Alright, you've won kid. Stand down before I have to remind you why i'm the gym teacher." Revy seemingly fazes into existence behind Tsuna, one hand on his shoulder almost threateningly.

Tsuna for the first time takes his eyes off of Mochida, slowly turning his head to lock his piercing gaze onto his teacher. The temperature around him seems to spike dangerously before suddenly dropping back to normal.

"Ah. It happened again." Tsuna mutters under his breath as the orange glow fades away, leaving him suddenly painfully aware that he's standing in his boxers in front of his classmates again.

"Eii!" Desperately trying to cover himself, his squeak of less-than-manly proportions knocks everyone else out of their stupor.

Tsuna's once more not entirely sure what just happened. His memories of the last two minutes are a lot clearer than they were when it happened this morning, but it still feels more like watching a video after the fact rather than actually living the events. He also hurts all over again, or rather he actually hurts more than before, probably because he went into that state at nearly half health rather than full health.

So Tsuna's not sure how to feel about his little 'episode'. Honestly, he's positive that his classmates are going to be disgusted by him. not only was he needlessly brutal with Mochida, but he also stripped again even if he hadn't meant to either time. What he certainly wasn't expecting is for the crowd to go wild, cheering out his name.

"Tsuna! That was crazy! You did great, man." An arm throws itself around his shoulders, and Tsuna looks into the beaming eyes of Yamamoto.

"Y-Y-Yamamoto?!" Tsuna's heart skips half a beat again, and his face flushes in embarrassment at their closeness.

"Yeah, you showed that blow hard!" Tsuna's not sure who it is that shouted it, but the sentiment is echoed by most people around.

Tsuna gets yanked out of Yamamoto's grasp and passed around like a celebrity at a gala, shaking hands and getting clapped on the back by people who had laughed at him just hours earlier. He's really not sure how to deal with this.

"THAT WAS EXTREME! SAWADA, YOU HAVE TO JOIN THE BOXING TEAM STAT!" the crowd clears a little as a whirlwind of energy shoves it's way past them right into Tsuna's face.

If Tsuna could remember this morning 'incident' clearer, he might recognize the young man in front of him as the boy who had tried to save him from a facefull of truck earlier. Since he could only vaguely recall about half of the event however, he's just left with the vague feeling that he knows the spirited male in front of him. To his great confusion, the praise and hands clasped to his shoulders causes him to flush with joy and embarrassment, just like he did when Yamamoto wrapped his arm around him.

"I-I-I-I, I don't know how to deal with all of this!" if this were an anime, Tsuna's eyes would be replaced with spirals as he loses his cool and nearly blacks out from all the high flying emotions.

"Onii-chan, stop pestering Sawada-kun!" Tsuna's not sure what surprises him more, the phrase 'onii-chan', or who said it.

"K-kyoko?" Truly, the brunette beauty smacks the white haired teen accosting Tsuna, causing the other brunette to feel extremely conflicted on how exactly he's supposed to feel right now.

"Hey, Sawada-kun. I'm sorry I ran away this morning. I'm always told that i'm bad at dealing with surprises."

Tsuna's not really sure if him showing up in just his underwear counts as a normal surprise, but the serene smile on Kyoko's face is bright enough for him to completely forgive her, and frankly he almost forgets why he worried in the first place. Hana, on the other hand...

"Tch. I might have been a bit hasty but for real do you have some sort of stripping fetish? Put on a damn shirt already, monkey." Tsuna chuckles nervously as a drop of sweat drips down the back of his head. Typical Hana.

"Oh, that's right! Sawada-kun, meet my onii-chan Ryohei! He's captain of the boxing team. I'm sorry in advance about any weird things he says." Oh that's right, there was a teen screaming in his face a minute ago.

"YO! I'M SASAGAWA RYOHEI! YOU CAN EXTREMELY CALL ME ANIKI IF YOU WANT. JOIN THE BOXING TEAM." Once more, Tsuna's not sure how to handle the situation in front of him.

On one hand he's happy that Kyoko's brother likes him, mostly because everyone knows that if the brother doesn't like you it's impossible to date someone. But on the other, the white haired teen is loud and energetic, two words that don't describe Tsuna at all. And that's not even mentioning the bright and warm feeling that Tsuna gets looking into ryohei's eyes, like a warm summer sun on his skin.

Thankfully for him, he doesn't really have to respond, as Kyoko reprimands her brother again and the incident passes without mention. Tsuna's happy. Everything seems to be back to normal. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turns in surprise only for a bundle of clothing to hit him in the face. Lifting one edge up, he see's his teacher glaring half-heartedly at him.

"Cover yourself up, brat. Can't half a streaker running around, now can we?" and with that she leaves.

For a moment, Tsuna's surprised at her. He had expected something a little sterner given her no-nonsense attitude, and the fact that if he remembers correctly she had had to stop him from mauling Mochida to death.

'Oh my god, Mochida!' just as Tsuna starts to panic about possibly seriously hurting a fellow student, he hears a groan.

Looking to the other side of the gym, Tsuna sags in relief to see Mochida being helped to his feet. The students around him seem genuinely worried, and after a second of throwing an Observe at the three of them he can see that they're part of the kendo club too.

Mentally thanking his teacher, Tsuna throws the new set of clothing on and follows his classmates and crush - crushes? Food for thought for much, MUCH later, Tsuna decides - back to class. During the walk, he throws an Observe at the...one, two, three...thirty six students hanging around the gym. He also runs through the series of blue boxes hovering just out of sight. He's really glad that whatever mental witch is thrown in his mind when in Dying Will Mode, it doesn't cause him to close the boxes before he has a chance to read them.

Most boxes are pretty predictable. A couple boxes for Dodge, a couple in Punch, one in Sense Danger, some in Physical Resistance, and apparently his new Skill had levelled up on it's second usage.

 _Dying Will Mode Lvl 2 (80/150 Exp)_

 _+500% to Str, Con, and Dex_

 _-99% to Int and Wis_

 _-1 HP/s_

 _-Lasts two minutes_

The timer hadn't extended, and the damage over time hadn't decreased, but the boost to his physical stats has increased a full 100%. That now puts him at a times 6 whenever 'under the influence', for lack of better terminology. the Exp requirement also isn't following the normal trend. He'll have to keep an eye on that, Tsuna supposes. He also finally reads the notification for his Quest.

 ** _You have completed the Quest: Blades of Hate and Fate!_**

 ** _Rewards:_**

 ** _+For defeating Mochida while using a practice sword, Swordsmanship has gained 50 Exp!_**

 ** _+For defeating Mochida using hand to hand combat, Punch has gained 100 Exp!_**

 ** _+For getting your ass handed to you but toughing it through, Physical Resistance has gained 100 Exp!_**

 ** _+For defeating a level 9 human, you have gained 250 Exp!_**

 ** _+1 to Str and Con for fighting your opponent head on_**

 ** _+1 Cha for getting an entire gym full of people cheer for you_**

 ** _+50 Reputation with everyone present_**

 ** _-1000 Reputation with Kensuke Mochida_**

Well, at least it was only Mochida who hated him. Tsuna decides that, cruel as it sounds, he's more than willing to sacrifice any potential at a friendship with Mochida in exchange for a few more points with Kyoko. That and he's still beaming on the inside over the fact that he just took down Mochida. He, Tsuna the No Good, had defeated one of the most respected - even if not the most well liked, as even other students had found him arrogant and pushy - students in his grade.

Honestly, as far as Tsuna is aware, he's walking on cloud nine right now. Forget about a cloudy day, not even a solar eclipse could darken Tsuna's smile. Now if only he didn't' have this odd sinking feeling in his stomach as though this were merely the start of his troubles, and he'd be perfect. sadly, he feels like he's forgetting something. Something important.

 _Outside the Gym_

A somewhat tall figure stands, looming physically over a second person. Both have their eyes locked on the group that just exited the building towards the school proper. One has an unreadable expression, the other a heated glare.

"So that's him? That's the one?" The second figure doesn't respond verbally, but nods.

The first growls a little under their breath, and a snarl grows across their face. Taking a cigarette out of their pocket, they light it up with the tip of their middle and pointer fingers, the edges coated in a crimson flame.

"This is going to be a cake-walk."

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Day 3, Part 4**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Making his way back to class, Tsuna has a skip in his step the entire way. True, his clothes are now torn beyond repair and he's wearing back-ups. True, he'd now probably made an enemy for life out of Mochida. True he still has that feeling in the back of his head that something bad is about to happen. Despite all that though, he couldn't keep the smile off his face with a crowbar.

As he makes his way back into his seat, he can't help but notice how everyone keeps throwing impressed looks his way. Yamamoto still hasn't stopped talking about how epic the fight was, and Tsuna at least mentally agreed with him.

It stung that he wasn't able to do it on his own power, more than he had thought it would, but he won and that's the important thing. Now nobody could claim that he's completely useless. He had won! He kind of wishes that everyone would ease up on the praise though, as he's really not used to it and isn't quite sure how to handle all the attention.

He tries to keep his mind on class as the second half of the day starts, but his feelings of joy and embarrassment make it difficult. It would seem that news of the fight had spread throughout the teachers though, as most didn't bother to nag him too much for being air headed today.

By the time gym started the general buzz had died down, though Tsuna's smile refused to follow suit. Even the looming threat of dealing with Revy couldn't bring him down. As he get's dressed he's practically skipping as he walks out to the field.

Besides him, Kyoko giggles and Hana sighs in exasperation though a small smirk can be seen on her face. She really didn't like Mochida, and watching the monkey get put in his place by the person she's started to think of as a cute cat was hilarious. She'd never tell the stupid cat that though. Wouldn't' want him to regress into another monkey.

"Alright, enough prancing about idiots! It's time for class, and I just want to get this over with. You've got two minutes to get into position for the sit-ups. Move, move, move!" REvy's voice cuts through all the chatter, and the students scurry around as quickly as possible to follow their instructions.

"Alright, since i'm feeling generous today instead of torturing you guys and making you go for thirty minutes you only have to do sit-ups for ten minutes today. Now get started!" Tsuna starts to lift his torso up to his knees as a new blue box appears.

 _*Ding!*_

 _New Quest: Sit your way to the top!_

 _Description: You know how this works. You're almost done so keep it up for the final stretch!_

 _Goal: Perform 500 Sit-ups over the course of ten minutes._

 _Success reward: 1000 Exp and an additional 5 Exp for every extra sit-up._

 _Failure rewards: 1 Exp for every sit-up._

Tsuna internally groans. His record is just under two hundred in ten minutes. Absolutely pitiful, though he hopes that his new stats will help even all that out. He still doubts if he can do a full 500 though.

The issue with sit-ups is that the first few are always so easy that Tsuna forgets to pace himself, and he pushes himself to the limit too fast. Even knowing this, he always seems to forget about it the next time he's forced into physical exercise.

Tsuna tries to keep this in mind as he starts to let his mind go blank to try and help with the exertion. Just go up, then down. up, then down. Within five minutes he's already sweating hard, and his breathing in uneven. He forgot to pace himself again. Well he couldn't call it quits now!

Even ignoring the quest - which is a hard concept for him to wrap his head around: ignoring a quest - he still wants to show his class and everyone in it that he's not the same as he once was. And so Tsuna grits his teeth and pushes his screaming stomach muscles to keep moving. Just five more minutes, he keeps repeating to himself.

When Revy whistles, Tsuna let's his back hit the ground as he tries to catch his breath. As he pants hard and sweat drips down his brow, another blue screen appears in front of his face. He grimaces, already guessing the results.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have failed the Quest: Sit your way to the top!_

 _You performed 451 situps out of the required 500._

 _Rewards: 451 Exp._

 _*Ding!*_

 _you have levelled up! You are now level 8._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendant of Pride has gained 225 Exp._

 _*Ding!*_

 _Pendant of Pride has levelled up! It is now level 7._

'Well, that could have been worse' Tsuna figures. He hadn't gotten the full thousand plus experience, but he had levelled which is nice. Now if only his everything could stop hurting.

"Alright maggots, you get five minutes to catch your breath, and after that it's shot-put time! Why the hell did I decide to do this again? Oh yeah, public humiliation and shame." Revy mutters that last bit to herself though most of the class still makes it out.

Tsuna slowly drags himself to his feet and shuffles over to the baseball field with the rest of the class. Revy brings out a small cart filled with small metal balls, and at some point someone had painted curved lines going out from home plate denoting various distances.

"Ah man, I hope they clean this up before practice starts today." Tsuna chuckles quietly at Yamamoto's slightly put out look, and ignores the way his heart twists a little at the genuine pout he gives with growing skill.

Eventually the five minutes are up - far too soon in Tsuna's opinion - and they start to chuck the small metal balls out into the field. some show that they're more academic than physical, with scores of around ten to fifteen meters. The more physical students like Yamamoto get scores closer to twenty meters, and when it comes Tsuna's turn he gulps nervously.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have a new Quest: Something Something, shoot your shot._

 _Description: I lost all motivation to name these little challenges like, three quests ago. Just get this over with already._

 _Goal: throw the metal ball fifteen meters._

 _Success reward: 150 Exp, and 20 Exp for every extra meter._

 _Failure reward: 5 Exp per meter._

Tsuna isn't sure how to feel about how cynical the Game is being, but he agrees that he just wants this over with. Stepping up to the home plate, Tsuna picks up one of the shot-puts and tosses it up and down in his hand to get a feel for it's weight. It's heavy, but not so much so that he couldn't toss it.

Now, how the hell does one throw a shot-put again? Tsuna's really bad at remembering things, and he's spent the last couple minutes more watching for peoples scores than their forms. Sadly, he doesn't really have time to figure this stuff out as Revy is already looking antsy and ticked off. and he's only been up here for maybe five seconds.

Mentally saying 'fuck it', Tsuna goes with the first thing to come to his mind. Copying the stance he had seen Yamamoto and a few other people on the baseball team make in middle school, Tsuna Tilts his torso back while slightly lifting one leg and pulling his right hand back.

Tensing his arm as much as he can without causing his hand to shake, Tsuna twists his body as leans forward while snapping his arm forward like a whip. Off to the side, Yamamoto whistles. hsi form was shaky as hell, but it wasn't half bad for a beginner.

Tsuna locks his eyes on the dark grey orb as it travels through the air. He even ignores the blue window that pops up while he waits for what feels like hours for it to fall. When it does, he waits with held breath as Revy announces his total.

"18 meters. Not half bad. Next." Tsuna breathes a sigh of relief and trudges back into line where his three new friends wait.

"Congrats Sawada-kun! You did great!" Kyoko claps happily, and her joy makes Tsuna happy.

"yeah, that was a killer pitching stance, though you need some work. Wanna join the baseball club?" Yamamoto's enthusiasm causes Tsuna to feel similar joy, although with confusion mixed in.

"N-Not r-really. I just thought that you looked c-cool when you threw like that, so I tried to copy you. I don't really think i'd be good at baseball. I wouldn't know how to handle it."

Tsuna is happy that the general buzz of joy returns to the else that brings a smile to Tsuna's face is that he remembers to tag everyone in his class with an Observe right before they started to file out for the day. He had almost forgotten.

Walking home, Tsuna starts jogging. He somewhat expects to almost immediately get into a Random Encounter. He's most certainly not expecting Reborn to jump onto his head, almost making Tsuna break stride. He had forgotten about the baby.

"Good job, Tsuna. I hadn't expected you to perform as well as you did. In the end you came close to actually standing even with Mochida. You were close to not being a complete disappointment." the slightly backhanded compliment brings a half smile and a sweatdrop to Tsuna's face.

"Thanks? I think?" As Tsuna jogs, he's a little curious what would happen if a Random Encounter happened with Reborn on his head.

Would the baby be pulled in with him? If not, would he notice any difference in Tsuna's posture when he came back? What if he got really injured? How would he explain any sudden wounds to the infant? Oh hey, running Leveled up.

Just as Tsuna is about to turn the corner to reach his home, Sense Danger goes off. Suddenly throwing himself backwards with a loud yelp of surprise and fear, Tsuna barely avoids something slamming into the wall next to him. Raising an arm, Tsuna blocks some debris flying towards him as he waits for the dust to settle.

Multiple questions fly through his head. Is it mafia? Are they here for him? What the hell was that? Why hasn't Reborn moved? Is he sipping on another cup of coffee right now? Seriously, where did he get that?

As the dust cloud settles, Tsuna throws an observe at the figure appearing in front of him. A little taller than him, with black hair, one eye closed and the other open revealing a green iris, khaki pants, and a black overshirt with cow-print trim and no undershirt.

*Ding!*

Name: Lambo, The Bovino Heir

Age: 15

Level: 10

Description: Heir to the Bovino Famiglia, Lambo is known for two things: His love for all things weaponry, and his hatred for the one known as Reborn. Not especially smart.

Tsuna dies a little on the inside, though he sighs in relief. He wasn't after him but rather Reborn. Meaning if Reborn wasn't pestering him he wouldn't have to deal with this.

"I've finally found you." The teen in front of Tsuna has a slight drawl to his voice, as if he had just woken up rather than just punched a wall into smithereens.

"Now that i've cornered you, you have no choice but to face me like a man. No running away this time, Reborn." Tsuna waits for the baby to say something, only to hear him take another sip of coffee.

"Uhm, Reborn?"

"Yes Tsuna? Can I help you with something?"

"T-There's somebody here asking for you. Wh-what should I do?"

"I don't see anyone." A drop of sweat falls down Tsuna's when Reborn takes another sip of coffee. Meanwhile this Lambo person drops their head so their bangs cover their eyes.

"Gotta. Keep. Calm." Tsuna looks a little worried that Lambo's going to do something crazy like attack Reborn, when he notices that Lambo is...crying.

"I CAN'T!" Lifting his head, the now bawling Lambo reaches into his pants pocket and...pulls out a grenade launcher.

"WHAT?!" Tsuna covers his head with his arms as he expects to be shot in the face with a grenade.

What he's not expecting is for Reborn to casually pick up his chameleon Leon, turn him into a fly swatter, and backhand the grenade right back at Lambo. The resulting explosion send Lambo flying into the distance, his voice fading away with him as he yells.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS REBORN!" Tsuna sweat drops and stares as Lambo's flying form disappears and for half a second he could swear a small sparkle appears in the sky where he vanished.

"What." Tsuna doesn't get any answers, instead he gets a smack to the back of his head.

 **-47 HP**

"Hurry on up home. Maman will get worried." Tsuna rubs his head to try and clear the not-quite concussion he was sure he'd get if this kept up.

Deciding that the best option would be to just forget that whole ten second debacle, Tsuna jogs the remaining like ten meters home and practically sinks into his kitchen chair. Nana smiles at him, already placing a cup of his favorite tea - some Cherry Blossom Green - in front of him. reborn finally hops off his head and gratefully accepts a refill on his coffee.

"How was your day, Tsu-kun? Reborn-kun? Was school fun?" Tsuna groans and grumbles.

"You could say that." Tsuna didn't want to mention the fight - or whatever that Lambo person's deal was - mostly because he didn't want to worry her, but also because he simply wants to move past it.

"Indeed. Tsuna here performed better than expected. Perhaps he's just a late bloomer, but I see some real potential in him. Of course i'll have to smooth out some of the rough edges before he even comes close to meeting my expectations." Tsuna whimpers a little, ignored by Reborn and unheard by Nana.

After slowly sipping away at his tea, Tsuna tries to stealthily sneak away only for Reborn to grab him by the back of his shirt and drag him up the stairs into his room. Tsuna really doesn't want to know the math behind a baby being stronger than him.

When Reborn drops him in front of his desk and takes a seat in his chair, Tsuna isn't sure what to expect. Reborn's face is impossible to read, and he's worried that another attempt at an Observe will just give him a headache. Tsuna sits there for a minute nervously twiddling his fingers. finally, Reborn breaks the silence.

"What are you waiting for? Ask away." Tsuna's head snaps up.

"W-What?" Tsuna is proud that his voice doesn't crack, but it's a pretty close deal.

"I know you have questions for me, if the very poorly hid way you look at me is any indication. Ask away. It's my job as your tutor to train you up to par, and answering your questions is a part of that." Tsuna stares in bewilderment for a moment before raising a hand to cup his chin as he thinks.

What to ask, and how? He can't quite come out and ask why his status is blocked, not only because it would make no sense, but he gets an odd feeling of impending doom whenever he thinks about exposing The Game. Like a dragon is staring him down, or something equally melodramatic like that. But what he can do is ask about the mafia.

The baby himself had said he was part of the mafia just this morning, not to mention all the crazy shit he's done. Like the magic bullets. Maybe he should start with that? Or maybe he should start with the question of what the hell he's doing at Tsuna's house? The Game may have insinuated that Iemitsu was part of the mafia, but hadn't specified which mafia in particular, so that could mean a lot of things both good and bad depending on who exactly Iemitsu actually is.

Or maybe he should ask how the baby in front of him seems to be even stronger than Hibari, who's supposedly twice as strong as the average adult? That's something that can't be explained away with a shrug and a 'because fuck you that's why'. Maybe he should bring up Lambo? The two seem to have a history, based on Lambo's description. Oh wait, he's not supposed to know anything about Lambo, as he hadn't ever introduced himself. Guess he might as well get the main points out of the way.

"W-Who exactly are you, Reborn? And why are you training me? And what for?" Reborn sips at his coffee - seriously, this damn brat must be addicted to the stuff - before answering.

"Well that's a bunch of loaded questions, isn't it? but, I did promise to answer your questions. To work in reverse order, I am training you in order to become the Vongola Famiglia Decimo. The tenth head of the Vongola Mafia family, in simpler terms. The reason I am training you in particular is due to your heritage. Your father, who is currently head of the vongola's secret services group known as CEDEF, is a direct descendant of the person who founded the Vongola Famiglia, the Primo.

Of course, normally one of the children of the Nono - the ninth - would inherit the throne so to speak. Sadly, three of them died due to assassination attempts, and the fourth is adopted and therefore eligible to inherit. Therefore, as per custom dictated back in the time of the Terzo or Third, the closest living relative of the Primo is to be selected. Your father disavowed that position as part of his oath when he took up being head of CEDEF years before this whole incident started. Meaning it has fallen onto you to become the next head of the Vongola Famiglia.

As for who I am, that isn't something that i'm going to answer so casually. My name is Reborn, and i'm the worlds strongest hitman as well as the best tutor in the world when it comes to training up bosses. Everything else regarding me is something that you will either have to figure out yourself or earn the right to know. Now that that's taken care of, do you have any other questions?" Tsuna stares blankly at the baby.

The raw knowledge that was just dumped on him is too much for his brain to handle, causing his brain to shut off higher functioning as it starts trying to process. Mafia, family, connections, inheritance, none of it makes a lick of sense to the brunette. The blue boxes that pop up in front of him don't help the matter.

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have discovered crucial information regarding The Game. Parts of your status will be updated accordingly, though be aware that you have yet to unlock the full thing as certain facets are still unknown to you._

 _*Ding!*_

 _You have unlocked the Main Quest: To Be Decimo Or Not To Be Decimo._

 _Description: You are in line to inherit the throne to one of if not THE largest and most powerful Mafia Famiglia in the world. It is now up to you to either embrace this destiny and become Vongola Decimo, or to reject it and escape from the shackles of your blood right._

 _Goal: Either become Vongola Decimo, or convince Reborn to pick someone else. Please note, both of these are nearly impossible, though they carry different risks and rewards._

 _Goal 1: Become Decimo: Survive long enough and become strong enough to take on the mantle of Vongola Decimo. High risk of death, mutilation, and permanent mental scarring. Will get you the most levels as well as help you push yourself to the limit faster than if you trained on your own._

 _Goal 2: Decline the Offer: Find some way to get Reborn to give up on making you Decimo. Vastly decreases mortality rates, but also greatly reduces how strong you can become in the future. Some paths to the future will become locked._

 _Rewards: Unknown, dependant on which Goal is completed and how well you accomplish it._

 _Failure: The only way to fail is to die. So yeah, don't do that._

Tsuna passes out. Reborn blinks before shrugging. Hopping out of the admittedly oddly comfy swivel chair, He easily lifts the unconscious brunette and tosses him into his bed with one hand still holding his coffee.

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Day 4**

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

Waking up is something Tsuna is used too. Waking up to a blue box telling him his health and mana are topped off is something that still startles him, but it's something he's growing used to. Waking up with a baby sleeping in a hammock that definitely hadn't been hung up in the corner of his room last night? Now that's something new, and Tsuna doesn't much care for new things.

About to squawk in surprise and crawl away from the maniac baby not two meters away from him, something stops him. He can't quite put it into words, the feeling being something definitely deep in his subconscious, and it disappears as soon as it came. Regardless, he's suddenly stuck with the understanding that if he wakes Reborn up he won't live long enough to regret the lack of a save feature in The Game.

Moving as slowly and quietly as possible, Tsuna slowly tiptoes out of his room and into the hallway where he takes a solid minute to close the door so as to not make any noise. Sighing in relief as the baby doesn't make any movement before any sign of him is lost behind a closed door, Tsuna turns around and carefully tiptoes hsi way downstairs.

He has a backyard and only about an hour to use it to do whatever morning practice he feels like before his mom wakes up to start breakfast. And who knows how long Reborn will be asleep? Now there's only one question left in Tsuna's mind: what exactly should he practice? A thought brings up his Skill List and Spell List.

 _***Combat Skills***_

 _Punch LvL 10/100 (111/700 Exp)_

 _+1 Str every 5th level (current bonus = 2)._

 _+Base fist damage = Str plus Punch Level, current Dmg = 11(+2)+10 = 21(23). Active._

 __.__

 _Sense Danger Lvl 6/100 (123/300)_

 _Range: 6 meters. Passive_

 __.__

 _Dodge Lvl 4/100 (80/100 Exp)_

 _+13% movement speed when dodging. Passive._

 __.__

 _Physical Resistance Lvl 6 (41/300 Exp)_

 _-Reduces physical damage by 6%. Passive._

 __.__

 _Dying Will Mode Lvl 2 (80/150 Exp)_

 _+500% to Str, Con, and Dex_

 _-99% to Int and Wis_

 _-1 HP/s_

 _-Lasts two minutes_

 _-Can only be activated using a Dying Will Bullet_

 __.__

 _Swordsman [Style: None] Level 3 (25/50)_

 _+3% dmg when using a sword_

 _? ? Lvl MAX_

 _-?_

 _***Non-Combat Skills***_

 _Observe Lvl 14/100 (358/1100 Exp)_

 _\- Tells the user the name, level, and general description of the target. Active._

 _-Targets 33 levels or higher than you will not give any information._

 __.__

 _Balance Lvl 2/100 (0/25 Exp)_

 _+1% to Balance checks per level. Passive._

 __.__

 _Quick-talk Lvl 1/100 (5/10 Exp)_

 _+1% chance per level to talk your way out of trouble. Passive._

 __.__

 _Running lvl 17/100 (163/5000 exp)_

 _+Raises Movement Speed by 1.41 times Dex, Current bonus = 11*1.41 = 15.5, translates to roughly 6.9 meters per second. Passive._

 _+1 Dex every 5 levels (Current boost = 3)_

 __.__

 _Endurance Lvl 9/100 (588/600 Exp)_

 _+1 Con every 5 levels (Current boost = 1). Passive._

 __.__

 _Mending Lvl 2/100 (20/25 Exp)_

 _+5 durability to target object. Active._

 _Sub-Skills:_

 _Sewing Lvl 3/50 (25/50 Exp)_

 __.__

 _Throwing Lvl 1 (0/10 Exp)_

 _+1% accuracy with thrown objects (Accuracy = Skill Level + Dex)_

 _+1% distance with thrown objects (Distance = Skill Level + Str + (Dex/2))_

 _***Spell (?) List:***_

 _Fire Ball (?) Level 3 (17/30 Exp)_

 _-Range: 10 x int/10 : 11 m_

 _-Damage: Int + Skill Level: 11 + 3 : 14_

 _-MP(?) Cost: 10_

 _3% chance to cause the ? Status Effect._

 __.__

 _Fire Punch(?) Level 2 (15/20 Exp)_

 _-MP(?) Cost: 25_

 _-Deals Punch + Fire Ball(?) divided by 2 to enemy. Current: 20(22) + {14/2} : 27(29)_

 _\- deals 1/4 dmg to self. Current: 27(29) / 4 : 7_

Tsuna whistles softly in surprise, having forgotten exactly how many Skills he had accumulated in just three days. Back to training though: Sense Danger, Dodge Physical Resistance, Dying Will Mode, Balance, Quick Talk, and Mending aren't really things he can practice without having something or someone to practice on, so those are out.

That leaves Punch, Observe, Running, Endurance, Throwing, and his Spells. There's also that unknown Skill of his that's all question marks, but seeing as he doesn't even know what it is it's not like he can train it. Well, that and it says the skill is maxed out anyways.

Thinking about it further, Tsuna throws out Running, Observe, Endurance, Throwing, and Punch. He can work on those later, and he hardly needs to hide it if he does so it would be better to focus on things that require a bit more..subtlety. Like his 'spells'. He only has the two, but given that as far as he knows he's the only person with magic in the world it would be a good ace in the bushes. Wait, he's mixing up his metaphors again isn't he?

And whoever decided that an infant could be stronger than Hibari? That as well as whatever's going on with Reborn's description means his previous thought of being the only magic user might not be all that accurate. Of course, that just means he should practice more so he knows what to expect, right?

 _*Ding!*_

 _For making logical deductions and plans, have an extra Int point._

Well that settles it, Tsuna decides. Deciding to start simple, Tsuna summons up a Fire Ball. The small flicker of orange fire comes to life in the palm of his hand, floating a few centimeters away from skin. Oddly enough, though he can feel the heat, it doesn't burn. keeping an eye on his MP and the Skill itself reveals that it doesn't cost anything to keep up, but it also hasn't gained any Exp yet.

Guess he needs to cause damage with it to gain experience? Wait, nevermind. It took a few seconds but it ticked up a single point of Exp. Let's try counting it this time. To the best of Tsuna's ability to gauge time, it takes about ten seconds for Fire Ball to gain one point of Experience when just holding it. Now Tsuna's thinking.

If one fire ball gains one point every ten-ish seconds, could he make more fireballs and gain exp faster without having to actually use them? Raising his left hand to face palm up like his right hand, Tsuna tries to summon another fireball. Try being the operative word. The moment his focus is on his left hand, the fireball in his right hand suddenly detonates, actually burning his hand now.

 _*Ding!*_

 _The maneuver you attempted is beyond your current parameters. In idiot-speak, you're not smart enough to do that yet. The Spell(?) Fire Ball(?) has been updated according to the knowledge you have acquired._

 _Fire Ball(?) Level 4 (2/40 Exp)_

 _-Range: 12 m_

 _-Damage: 16_

 _-MP(?) Cost: 10 per Fire Ball(?)_

 _-Can summon 1 per every 10 Int (Current limit: 1)_

 _-4% Chance to cause the ? Effect._

Tsuna glares at the blue boxes for a second before sighing and shaking his head. Getting upset at the boxes won't solve anything, and it's not like it had ever given him the impression that it would hold his hands. He just needs to be a bit more careful next time he tries experimenting with fire. Which thinking about it sounds pretty self-explanatory.

So, now that he knows he can only use one fire ball for the time being Tsuna needs a new exercise. He can't exactly hurl fireballs all over the place, else he'd risk letting his house on fire. Maybe he could shoot them off into the sky? But that'd catch someone's eyes he's sure.

Not entirely sure what else to do, Tsuna decides to try Fire Punch. Calling it up with a thought, Tsuna watches in morbid curiosity as his hand is engulfed in orange fire. It doesn't hurt, so Tsuna throws a punch at empty air like he usually does when practicing Punch.

Much to his surprise, Fire Punch doesn't act how he expected. He had expected the flame on his fist to flare slightly, burning his hand a little before fading after a second. He probably wouldn't gain the full exp for the skill but he'd at least get some.

What he hadn't expected after the fire flared up for a second was for it to stick around. The first tick of damage causes Tsuna to grit his teeth, but the second time he takes the seven damage he jumps in surprise and instinctually dismisses the Spell. Tsuna stares at his now light red hand in surprise.

Turns out that Fire Punch will stay active and hurt him until he turns the Skill off. Or maybe it's impact based and it dies off when he hits something? Tsuna's not sure, and he's got no clue how he'd go about learning which it is without going into a Random Encounter. Something Tsuna would rather avoid if possible.

 _*Ding!*_

 _Due to repeatedly burning yourself like an idiot, you've unlocked the Skill: Fire(?) Resistance. Note, not all information about this skill is accurate as you lack certain knowledge._

 _Fire(?) Resistance Level 1 (0/10 Exp)_

 _-Reduces damage from Fire(?) based attacks by 1% per level._

Tsuna's not sure if he should be happy about a new Skill or upset about how The Game keeps insulting him and his newfound intelligence. He's also curious about why the word fire would have a question mark following it. Isn't he using regular fire? Well, Tsuna supposes that normal fire is more red than orange, but this is magic we're talking about so maybe orange is normal? Or is it because it's magic fire that it's not just plain fire resistance? Tsuna keeps pondering these things for a moment before an unexpected voice cuts through his thoughts.

"Oh, I wasn't sure what you were doing up so early, but this is a pleasant surprise. To think that you had already unlocked your Dying Will Flames."

"HIEEEE!" Tsuna jumps nearly two meters off the ground while trying to spin around to find the speaker who snuck up on them ,while also getting into position to defend himself.

Of course, trying to do all three things at once is more than Tsuna's able to do at a measly eleven Dex, so it ends up exactly how he was used to it going. Him landing face first in the dirt. Looking up past the red box telling him about the point of HP he lost, Tsuna fearfully locks eyes with Reborn.

"A-Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Tsuna's not entirely sure if that should be his top concern, but for some reason it's the first thing out of his mouth.

"While i've certainly seen worse, your attempt at stealth leaves much to be desired. Now, when were you planning on telling me that you learned to use your Dying Will Flames?" As he untangles himself and slowly sits up on the ground, Tsuna tilts his head in confusion.

"Dying Will Flames? You mean my magic?" Reborn stares at Tsuna for a moment, as if searching for something, before sighing in irritation.

"I suppose if you have no idea about Dying Will Flames they could seem mystical in nature. However, Dying Will Flames and magic are fundamentally different. Allow me to elaborate upon something I had planned for later today." Before Tsuna can question any of what was just said, Reborn pulls a blackboard out of nowhere and is suddenly dressed like a college professor.

"Now, in the beginning there was no such thing as Dying Will Flames. Then, roughly three to four thousand years ago a tribe of nomadic people stumbled upon an odd cave. Inside the cave were drawings and writings from people long past. Within these records were the secrets to unlock a person's mind, body, and soul.

For those who followed the instructions, they became the source of incredible powers. They became able to summon forth flames that didn't behave like regular fire. There were seven distinct types of this mysterious fire, and the ancient inscriptions gave them names that corresponded with seven types of weather: Sky, Storm, Rain, Lightning, Cloud, Mist, and Sun.

Each flame had a different appearance and power, and those who could wield such flame became revered as powerful warriors. Over time, the descendants of those who first found the cave learned to unlock their own flames, and so they spread throughout the world. Of course, having what basically amounts to super powers running rampant was seen as a bad idea even back then, so knowledge of it was restricted to a small number of people.

Nowadays the descendents of those families make up some of the highest ranking mafia famiglia's out there, and anyone who speaks of Dying Will Flames to those outside the mafia are subject to an ancient code called omerta, and will be punished severely by the Vindice. So that means you can't tell anyone about any of this, do you understand that Tsunayoshi?" Reborn turns from his blackboard to see Tsuna looking lost, steam coming from his ears.

"Uhm, there's magic fire that's not actually magic, and only the mafia knows about it, and telling people is bad?" Tsuna ends sounding more like he's asking a question than answering one.

"I suppose that's close enough to warrant a passing grade. I give you a C minus. Try to pay closer attention next time. Now, moving on with our lesson. Your Dying Will Flames are a light orange. This means two things. The first and more important one is that you have what's called Sky Flames. Sky is the rarest and most powerful type of Flame, with the Attribute of Harmony. It's part of the reason why you and only you can inherit the position of Vongola Decimo. Sky's are natural born leaders.

The second thing to know is that your Dying Will Flames are currently low in purity. This means you burn a lot more energy trying to do things with your Flames, and their Attribute is weaker. Thankfully Flame Purity is something that can be trained. With some time and effort we can change your 'soft' Flames into 'hard' Flames.

Sky Flames are naturally powerful, and their users more so. Sky Flames have the Attribute of 'Harmony' which allows them to more easily connect with people, as well as sense their true motives. When used offensively, it also has the ability to cause a sort of petrification. Of course, the stronger the opponent relative to the Sky user, the less likely the effect is to take place.

Combined with the Vongola lines special ability of Hyper Intuition, the leaders of the Vongola line are regarded as almost untouchable. Hyper intuition takes a Sky's ability to sense disturbances in the Flames of others and the trace amounts present in the world around them and ramps it up to twelve, allowing them to sense and react to danger almost before it happens.

Sky Flames are also a culmination of all other types of Dying Will Flames so hypothetically you could even separate various aspects from your Flames and use the six other types, though if you weren't born with an affinity to any of them it would take years to reach the starting point of people born with an affinity. Did you follow that?" Turning back to Tsuna, the blank expression remains for the most part, but he looks to understand more now.

Unknown to Reborn, that would be because of the series of blue boxes that popped up in front of Tsuna's face while Reborn was talking. The first one was just telling him that The Game has been updated thanks to learning crucial information. He ignores that one and pulls up all the things it mentioned had been changed.

 _Sawada Tsunayoshi_

 _Age: 15_

 _HP: 290/290_

 _Fiamma Volts (FV for short): 560/560_

 __...__

 _Title: Son of Iemitsu: +25% Str and Con gains, +25% Experience gains to Combat Skills, +25% FV, +25% Reputation gains with the Vongola Famiglia, +10% reputation with Mafia families allied to the Vongola_

 _Title: Descendant of Primo: +50% Int and Wis Gains, +50% FV, +50% Reputation gains with Mafia, +75% Reputation gains with Vongola, +Hyper Intuition_

 _Title: ? Flames: -50% Int and Wis gains, -50% all Experience gains, Unable to access ? Dying Will Mode without aid until Title is removed_

 __...__

 _Skill: Hyper Intuition Lvl MAX_

 _-Grants the user an almost precognitive level of perception. Works on physical threats, Dying Will Flames based attacks, Illusions, and even lies. Note: User's Hyper Intuition is currently working at approximately ten percent power thanks to the Title: ? Flames._

 __...__

 _Affinities:_

 _Sky Flame (Soft): 50%_

 _Storm Flame (Soft): 5%_

 _Rain Flame (Soft): 5%_

 _Lightning Flame (Soft): 5%_

 _Cloud Flame (Soft): 5%_

 _Mist Flame (Soft): 5%_

 _Sun Flames (Soft): 5%_

 __...__

 _Flame Ability List:_

 _Sky Bolt: Level 4 (2/40 Exp)_

 _-Range: 10 x int/10 : 12 m_

 _-Damage: Int + Skill Level: 12 + 4 : 16_

 _-FV Cost: 10_

 _-Can Summon 1 for every 10 int (Current: 1)_

 _-4% chance to cause the Petrification Status Effect._

 __.__

 _Sky Punch Level 3 (5/30 Exp)_

 _-FV Cost: 25_

 _-Deals Punch + Sky Bolt divided by 2 to enemy. Current: 20(22) + {14/2} : 27(29)_

 _\- deals 1/4 dmg to self. Current: 27(29) / 4 : 7_

Tsuna may not fully understand what's going on, but the fact that The Game says he's making progress is a good sign. He thinks. He's not entirely sure what The Game and it's creators goal is, but it has yet to steer him wrong so he figures he might as well trust it for now. That means trusting tat Reborn is telling the truth. Oh, speaking of Reborn, he's still waiting for an answer to his last question.

"Oh, uh, Sky Flames are really powerful? And the Vongola are also super strong, and i'm guessing important?" Reborn snorts a little.

"You're technically correct, in much the same way that water is technically important to living. It's clear you're not fully grasping all of this yet, so i'll keep this last bit short. The Vongola Famiglia isn't just important, it's one of if not THE most important mafia Famiglia in the world. When you become Vongola Decimo, hundreds of thousands of lives will rest in your hands and a single decision can either save them or end them." Tsuna gulps.

"That, sounds like a lot of responsibility." Reborn smirks, and although Tsuna's sure that his following words were meant to be reassuring...

"That's why i'm here and you can't get rid of me." He can't help but feel like an invisible chain just tightened around his ankles.

"Now, we've spent enough time dawlding around with technical discussions. Why don't you show me what you can do with your Flames. Try and hit me." though phrased like a request, Tsuna has no doubt that what was said was meant as a demand.

If it were anyone else, he might have worried about hurting them, but this is Reborn. Tsuna can't see his level at all, meaning he's even more powerful than Hibari, and Tsuna has no delusion that he can even touch Hibari in his current state. Not that he has any intention of ever testing that theory.

Standing up, Tsuna takes a moment to mentally prepare himself. He's not sure how, but he's sure that this will end up with him being thoroughly embarrassed. Reborn had done little to give a different impression. Raising his hands and sliding into his makeshift stance, Tsuna waits a second for Reborn to prepare himself.

When the infant doesn't move at all after three seconds, Tsuna figures he's not going to do anything. Swallowing a little saliva, Tsuan moves. Lunging to the side, he simultaneously launches a Sky Bolt from his left hand right at the infant.

The bolt travels relatively quickly, and if TSuna's calculations are correct, it should reach Reborn in less than a second. Just enough time for him to launch his second attack. Immediately after lunging to the side, Tsuna pivots on one foot and launches himself at Reborn, right fist covered in a Sky Punch.

The flaming orb and Tsuna's fiery fist collide with Reborn at the same time. Or at least, that was the plan. In less time than it would take Tsuna to blink, Reborn moves. One hand bats the Sky Bolt to the side, shattering it instantly. His other hand is held out palm first, and Tsuna's fist harmlessly smacks into it and stops. Tsuna ignores the little box telling him that Sky Punch had levelled up, and instead stares wide eyed at Reborn.

"Not bad, for a complete rookie. You might have taken out a small child with that attack. Looks like i've got my work cut out for me when it comes to your training. Now, I want you to grit your teeth and endure."

"Endure wha-?" Tsuna's question is cut off by a small black foot slamming into his stomach.

 **-235 HP, now at 45/290**

Tsuna is sent flying into the stone wall surrounding the backyard. His head colliding with said stone takes another 24 hit points, and Tsuna curls into the fetal position out of reflex. His diaphragm is still working on starting back up so Tsuna can't even breathe properly enough to cry out in either surprise or pain. That one kick had almost killed him. He can see his short, sad life fly past his eyes.

"Well, you didn't die so that's a good sign. Of course, I carefully regulated my power so that you wouldn't die so perhaps the glory for your survival should go to me? Whatever. Get up, it's nearly time for breakfast."

Tsuna softly whimpers into his arms and curls up a bit tighter as the ba- no, the tiny devil in a suit walks away. He should have just gone back to sleep when The Game first showed up. He should have just slept until it went away and reality went back to normal.

 **_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_GoF_**

 **AN:** Hallo! New chap for you guys. Time is progressing slowly yet steadily for our favorite little lion. Of course, today is more of an expositional chapter than anything else. Partly because it's a conversation that was going to happen one way or the other, and partly because It was getting irritating having two versions of the stat page saved onto my comp - one for what I know and one for what Tsuna knows - though of course there are a few pieces still missing from the puzzle for dear Tsuna. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually. Oh, and in case anyone is curious about that quote unquote 'fight' at the end there. Reborn is just so fucking overpowered compared to Tsuna right now that he literally tanked both hits and they didn't even faze him. For reference, Tsuna currently has a Physical Resistance of level 6, meaning each attack only does 94% of it's full damage. At level one hundred, physical attacks are reduced by 99.9%. Tsuna's Sky Bolt does 16 damage and his Sky Punch does 29 damage. Point one percent of those would total at 0.045 damage. Less than half a single point of damage against Reborns Health. And remember that at level 8 Tsuna himself almost has 300 HP. It would be the equivalent of a feather landing on Tsuna's arm, that's how little damage he did. Now, am I saying that Reborn is such a monster that Tsuna would have to do damage numbering in the tens of thousands to so much as scratch him? Yes. Am I saying that he'll never reach that point? Not at all. Of course, that's a long ways away. Canon! Tsuna at the end of the Rainbow Curse Arc couldn't even scratch Reborn, so even if i do intend on making Tsuna much more powerful than Canon! I have to keep power levels consistent within universe, meaning that Tsuna casually sparing with Reborn is something we won't see until the end of the story, if it happens at all. Everyone besides the Arcobaleno though is fair game. I think that's enough rambling for now though, so I guess i'll see you guys in our next chapter! Ciao!

Signed,

Phantom Drache.


	11. Not Chapter 11

Salutations!

Phantom Drache here.

Unfortunately, I am not here today with an update.  
Long story short, I got into an incident a few days ago that's landed me in the hospital with a broken right arm, which is my main arm. I'm on a lot of pain killers.  
This will sadly put a delay on my writing, seeing as just writing this much has taken me ten minutes.  
I'll do my best to get the next update out here as soon as possible, but it might take a week or two for me to get enough written to warrant it.  
Many apologies to those looking forward to an update today.  
I guess i'll see you guys when I can?  
Signing off for now,  
Phantom Drache


End file.
